At a joint press conference following talks with his South Korean counterpart Yun Buyng-se on Thursday, Kerry vowed that the US will not accept the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a nuclear power or as a nation which possesses nuclear weapons. Kerry once again urged the DPRK to respect its commitments on denuclearization and said the DPRK has not yet demonstrated its denuclearization commitment and sincerity. According to Kerry, it is inappropriate to link humanitarian issues to military issues, referring to the DPRK’s attempts to get the US and South Korea to cancel a joint military exercise scheduled for later this month. At talks on Thursday at the Panmunjeom truce village, Pyongyang warned Seoul that it will cancel reunification plans for Korean families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War if South Korea does not cancel the joint military exercise with the US. Last September, the DPRK postponed the family reunions at the last minute for the same reason.