Let's get an expert's take on the prospect for dialogue resuming between North Korea and the U.S. as Washington and Seoul wrap up their joint military drills today.
We are joined on Skype by Tom Fowdy, an independent political analyst and expert on North Korea and China. He's also a graduate of Oxford University in the UK.
Thanks for joining us.
We’ve been witnessing North Korea’s reaction to the drills namely a series of missile launches. With the exercises coming to an end, do you expect Pyeongyang to re-engage with the U.S. for working-level talks relatively soon… and for the regime to refrain from firing any missiles for a while?
North Korea has suddenly become very hostile to the South Korean government despite President Moon's relentless efforts to reach out and facilitate dialogue and cooperation. In 2018, they had 3 summits. This year, they had a brief handshake at the DMZ, but Kim Jong-un was clearly there just to see President Trump. Why do you think the North has pulled this sudden U-turn on Seoul?
Senior military officials from North Korea and China met last weekend in Beijing for talks. Where do you think Beijing stands on the current impasse on the Korean Peninsula? And do you think the turmoil in Hong Kong has knocked North Korea down its list of priorities?
Before we let you go, with President Trump focused on getting re-elected next year, China concerned about Hong Kong and South Korea beset with serious economic issues including Japan’s trade curbs where do you see the denuclearization process going from here?
Thanks for your insights this morning, Tom .We appreciate you staying up late to speak with us. Thanks.