Recent developments in and outside Northeast Asia related to the process of talks between the US and North Korea gave a picture with contradicting meanings. Diplomacy and political rhetoric were mixed together. North Korea's tone on the US became tougher and this country again launched a projectile test which did not violate the UN's sanctions against this country but certainly worried the US, Japan and South Korea. The US reacted with calm without filing any protest and even though it declined to meet North Korea's demands, it has been showing willingness to continue talking with this country and did not rule out the possibility of the next and third bilateral summit with North Korea.
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands at their second summit in Hanoi in February 2019.
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Russia, South Korea and Japan would like the peace talks between the US and North Korea to go on, and tried to push it because a detente between the US and North Korea as well as denuclearization of the Korean peninsula serve their strategic long-term interests. But they also want to play their role in this process, to have influences on it and to secure their parts in the solutions being now sought for the Korean peninsula and for the region of North East Asia.
Obviously the US and North Korea are now both in the same dilemma. They knew each other’s demands but still are not ready to meet them. They are aware of the fact that both sides have to make concessions in order to reach final peace agreement but still not ready to do it.
The lack of mutual confidence makes it impossible for both of them to be the first in taking the first step. Each of them has tried to mobilize international support for their stance, to form alliances and to have counterweights. Both need, even deadly need, progress and success and have to prevent setback and failure. They increased pressure on each other while avoiding collapsing it. That is why this process now remains stagnant but certainly not reversed.
