U.S. efforts to deal with Iran in the coming days could divert its attention from Pyongyang, meanwhile the killing of Iran’s top military general by the U.S. could prompt North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to reassess how willing the U.S. is to use force, experts said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently indicated the road to denuclearization has come to an end, but experts say he left a door open for diplomacy with the U.S. in his statements Wednesday.
North Korea's "Christmas gift" might be still to come as Pyongyang is likely to ramp up military tensions and the threats of missile launches to gain concessions from the U.S., said experts, as tensions heighten on the Korean peninsula.
As Pyongyang appears to be preparing to launch a long-range missile, experts see an end to a diplomatic process Washington has pursued to denuclearize North Korea.
Washington's call for a sharp increase in Seoul's share of its defense costs is an untimely demand that could put the readiness of the combined U.S. and South Korean forces at risk at a time when North Korea is escalating threats, said experts.
Despite Washington’s efforts to maintain a dialog with Pyongyang, chances for a diplomatic breakthrough leading to the denuclearization of North Korea are fading away, said experts, as the two nations remain locked in their position.
Eleven North Korean defectors detained in Vietnam are asking the South Korean government to provide asylum in Seoul so they can avoid being deported to North Korea, according to a South Korean activist group.
Washington’s defense cost-sharing demand could hurt the U.S.-South Korean alliance, said a former military general, suggesting the demand seems to stem from “a new paradigm” the Trump administration has adopted.
U.S. and North Korean officials held a meeting at a nonproliferation conference in Moscow, a former U.S. official who attended the conference told VOA’s Korean Service, as the denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain deadlocked.
더 보기
