There are a lot of puzzling moves and backpedals related to North Korea diplomacy lately. On Monday, North Korea’s staff returned to the liaison office and announced business as usual, after having just withdrawn from the office on Friday.
The liaison office in Kaesong is a joint facility with South Korea used
for inter-Korean relations. There was no word Friday as to why they
withdrew in the first place, but there was some speculation that it was related to a sudden announcement of US sanctions on Thursday.
Yet the Thursday sanctions were reversed by President Trump on Friday,
and now the liaison office withdrawal has similarly been reversed on
the next business day. Effectively, a lot of highly publicized moves
since Thursday have amounted to nothing at all.
Still, it’s allowed both sides to appear to be attacking tough, and then
appear to be making some concessions in the name of diplomacy. Despite
all of this, however, it’s not clear anyone is any closer to resuming
diplomacy.
… North Korean long weekend? They are Westernizing fast…