Rift grows between US allies over N Korea’s nuclear threat

Bloomberg

One longstanding US ally still thinks North Korea poses an urgent nuclear threat. Another is steadily increasing economic ties with the regime. And Kim Jong-un is doing his best to exploit the divide.
Less than three months after shaking Kim’s hand in Singapore, US President Donald Trump is confronting an increasingly fractured diplomatic landscape as his two key allies—Japan and South Korea—pursue differing ends of his two-pronged North Korea strategy. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government reaffirmed that North Korea posed a “grave and imminent” threat to Japan, despite Kim’s pledge on “denuclearisation.”
Meanwhile, in Seoul, President Moon Jae-in is taking steps to upgrade ties with Kim, establishing a liaison office over the border that, according to US officials, could violate sanctions. Moon plans to visit Pyongyang next month—the first such trip by a South Korean president in 11 years—and his defense ministry is reportedly considering striking a reference to North Korea’s military as “our enemy.”
“The establishment of the liaison office so that South Korea and North Korea can communicate on a more regular basis is an effective way of creating a wedge between the United States and South Korea,” said Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo. “If there is a fracture or weakening of the US-South Korea alliance, this will potentially put Japan in a vulnerable situation.”

Shifting Approach
The fissures reflect Trump’s own shifting approach towards North Korea, which threatened with “fire and fury” last year. Shortly after his meeting with Kim in June, Trump declared on Twitter: “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” More recently, he requested, scheduled—and then postponed—a Pyongyang trip this month by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Trump said the move was necessary because nuclear talks were “not making sufficient progress,” his first public doubts about efforts to court Kim personally while pressuring the regime diplomatically.
North Korea has tested US alliances with Japan and South Korea that have already been strained by Trump’s complaints about perceived trade and military imbalances. Recent statements from Kim’s regime have blamed Japan for “harassing peace,” questioned South Korea’s commitment to ties and accused the US of conducting covert military rehearsals for the invasion of Pyongyang.

Warning Letter
Pompeo’s trip was called off after the US received a letter from senior North Korean officials warning that talks were “again at stake and may fall apart,” CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the process. The letter blamed the US’s reluctance to advance discussions about a peace treaty, CNN said.
Moon’s plan to establish a liaison office at the Gaeseong industrial park north of the militarised border has emerged as another friction point, with an unidentified American official telling South Korea’s Chosun newspaper last week that the facility could violate United Nations and US sanctions. A State Department spokesperson told Bloomberg that ties between the Koreas must move “in lockstep” with progress on eliminating Kim’s nuclear arsenal.