US President Joe Biden refused to meet personally with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. This was stated by the press-secretary of the White House Jen Psaki during the briefing.
While responding to journalists, whether the head of state is ready to sit down at the negotiating table with the head of North Korea, Psaki stressed that his approach will be "completely different" and he does not intend to take such a step.
Last week, US President Joe Biden in his press conference called the issue of North Korea and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as his top priority in foreign policy. Biden condemned missile launches of the DPRK and promised an appropriate response to Pyongyang if it makes efforts to pose threats to its allies in the region.
It should be noted that during the Donald Trump administration, the United States and North Korea held dozens of negotiations on the denuclearization of North Korea. Former President Donald Trump said he was ready to lift sanctions imposed on the republic in the event of concluding an agreement on this issue. However, in December 2020, the leadership of North Korea stated that they did not need further dialogue with the United States on the issue of denuclearization. Pyongyang refused to unilaterally reduce its nuclear stockpiles.
Further to clarifying the recent situation with North Korea and its relations with the US, Turkish political expert, Engin Ozer made comments to Eurasia Diary.
Political expert initially touched upon the current situation in the relations between North Korea and the United States.
“Joe Biden is a leader representing a liberal world. It is impossible to imagine that he can deal with the leaders of totalitarian regimes. Also, I do not think that former President Donald Trump made an agreement with North Korea. We know that in the period of the Trump administration, there were intensive uncertainties in the relations with North Korea. Trump only started a dialogue with North Korea, but there was no clear agreement,” Ozer said.
According to him, the tension between the US and North Korea will increase in the Pacific region.
“Of course, the tension between US and North Korea will increase. But the United States will use it as leverage against China. In the eyes of the new administration, North Korea is a pawn of China. Therefore, tension will increase in this region and Americans will use this as a trump card to reinforce their military presence in their region,” he noted.
Turkish expert pointed out that Pyongyang has a desire to increase tension in the region in order to get more help from China.
“North Korea frequently shares images launching ballistic rockets are not new for us. However, I think that the real problem in the region is the tension between Japan and Russia. Therefore, North Korea would want to increase this tension even more, as it would be a fruitful solution in terms of their policy. Pyongyang wants Japan to struggle in two regions. As well, there are US military bases in two countries of the region - Japan and South Korea. These countries are always under threat from North Korea. But Pyongyang thinks that nowadays it would not be right for them to launch attacks on these two countries. They just want to increase tension in the region in order to get more help from China,” he noted.
Viewing the current situation between North and South Korea, Ozer said that the Biden administration will give more attention to its ally - South Korea.
“Only talks have been held between North and South Korea for recent years. Nothing has changed in the Korean peninsula since 1953. I consider that the Biden administration will give more importance to South Korea than Donald Trump. As I said, the growing tension in this region is beneficial for North Korea, because Pyongyang wants to receive more aid from China. The US also wants to increase the tension in order to increase its troops in that area. It can be seen that North Korea is getting more armed. However, this does not turn into a serious confrontation, because it could lead up to the world war,” he added.
by Yunis Abdullayev
