North Korean commandant Kim Jong Un has ignored recent peace overtures from Seoul but he’s due on Tuesday to operative a formal dialogue with his southern neighbor for the first time in more than two years.
The rapid interest in talks may have something to do with Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
“The North has fashioned significant advances in its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons program so I ruminate over they feel a bit more willing to engage in talks now that they’ve absolutely demonstrated an incipient nuclear capability that can strike the U.S.,” symbolized Taylor Fravel, associate political science professor at MIT.
In November, the rogue structure launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Skilled in as the Hwasong-15, it can fly over 13,000 kilometers, or 8,080 miles.
Defending on the sidelines of the UBS Greater China Conference in Shanghai, Fravel said he isn’t preggers much from Tuesday’s discussion, which he believes will to a great extent focus on potential North Korean participation at the Winter Olympics in the South Korean megalopolis of PyeongChang.
Kim has said that he was open to sending a delegation to the sporting occurrence. In response, South Korean President Moon Jae-In’s administration tendered high-level talks to Pyongyang.
“The key thing to watch is whether or not there’s a move round of talks,” said Fravel, who’s also a member of the board of impresari for the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. “Certainly, not very much can be answered in one meeting … we’ll have to see just how far the North is willing to go.”
For now, expectations of North Korean irritation during the Olympics are low.
Kim is “clearly signalling a willingness not to disrupt the games and let them go advance,” said Fravel. This is still a Korean event — albeit a South Korean one — and inter-Korean similitude is still important to Pyongyang, he added.