Some think Kim Jong-Un is no longer a threat; others see an economic opportunity
‘The US is hatching a criminal plot to unleash a war against the DPRK and commit a crime, which deserves merciless divine punishment’
Hong Kong/Tokyo/Jihye Lee — One long-standing 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 extremes of his two-pronged North Korea strategy. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government re-affirmed on Tuesday 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 defence ministry is r...
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