News / Interviews

North Korea is trying to create wedge between South Korea and US: Analyst

Wednesday, 07 March 2018 7:25 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 08 March 2018 8:30 AM ]

North Korea is trying to create a wedge between South Korea and the US via overtures of abandoning its nuclear weapons and extending peace offers toward Seoul, says an analyst in Virginia.

“It appears that the North Koreans are trying to extend an olive branch toward South Korea… they have been a lot less bellicose in their rhetoric toward South Korea and I think the purpose of this is to first of all to drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States," said Keith Preston, the director of AttackTheSystem.com.

"Because the Trump administration takes a hard line position against North Korea, I think that the North Korean strategy in response is to try to drive a wedge between South Korea and the United Sates,” Preston told Press TV Wednesday.

Preston said Pyongyang thinks if they can establish a more friendly relationship with Seoul, then South Korea can perhaps influence the US to decrease pressure against North Korea

Preston said that the North’s final goal is that they “want American influence out of the Korean peninsula” and their new strategy is to appease the South with assurances, so in turn, Seoul would lessen its relations with the US.

PressTV-North Korea will give up nukes if security guaranteed

North Korea offers to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees, a South Korean envoy says.

Pyongyang has expressed willingness to halt its nuclear and missile tests if its security is guaranteed.

Following a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Chung Eui-yong, the national security adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said on Tuesday that Pyongyang was willing to abandon its nuclear weapons "if military threats towards the North are cleared and the security of its regime is guaranteed."

"The North made clear its willingness for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and made clear that there is no reason to own nuclear (programmes) if military threats towards the North are cleared and the security of its regime is guaranteed," Chung said.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk