트럼프 제재 철회가 北 연락사무소 복귀에 영향? 요동치는 한반도 정세

The U.S. has clarified that when President Trump tweeted last week that "those sanctions" -- in his words -- would be withdrawn, he was not referring to the ones imposed just a day before... but to sanctions that haven't been announced yet.
Regardless, it seems that tweet has had some effects both in North Korea and within Trump's administration.
Lee Ji-won has more.
The White House has cleared up the confusion caused by President Donald Trump's tweet last week, and said sanctions on two Chinese shipping companies remain in place.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday that these are "very strong sanctions" and the president doesn't feel it's necessary to add additional sanctions at this time.
Sanders added President Trump "likes" the North Korean leader and that they want to continue negotiating.
This comes after Trump tweeted last week that he had ordered the withdrawal of "those sanctions," which seemed to be referring to the ones announced by the U.S. Treasury the previous day.
But administration sources said the announcement was referring to sanctions that hadn't been revealed yet.
Now there is speculation that this could have brought the North Koreans back to its liaison office with South Korea on Monday.
North Korea had pulled out from the liaison office hours after the U.S. announced new sanctions.
And the Wall Street Journal reports that the mood appears to have improved after President Trump tweeted about the withdrawal of sanctions,... citing analysts to say that the North's return restores some trust lost from the failure to reach an agreement in the nuclear talks in Hanoi.
But Trump's words and actions seem to clash with his senior officials,... including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton,... who have been stressing the need to maintain the pressure campaign on the North.
Even at this moment, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun is in Beijing to talk over the North Korean nuclear issue with his Chinese counterpart.
While no details of his itinerary have been revealed, Biegun is expected to reiterate the international community's joint efforts to fully implement sanctions on the North, just as he did during his sitdowns with other counterparts.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.