With South Korea seeking to use the Olympics as a chance to improve inter-Korean ties and ease cross-border tensions, concerns are rising in the Trump administration that the Olympic detente should not distract from the internationally agreed goal of denuclearizing the North.

In order for South Korea to play a successful meditation role between Pyongyang and Washington, South Korea should get China involved in the process as much as possible because Beijing could withdraw itself from the pressure campaign against North Korea if it feels sidelined, the scholar noted. 

“There is a sense in China that if they rein in North Korea with pressure, the effect takes place in Seoul and Washington,” Shin said. “We should do our best not to make China feel isolated when it comes to presenting a united front against North Korea”

Shin noted that there are jitters in China that the country could bear the brunt of a maximum pressure campaign led by the US and end up losing control over North Korea.

China backed the United Nation’s sanctions adopted after the North conducted its sixth nuclear test in September.

Regarding the reasons for North Korea’s change in its bellicose rhetoric and the resumption of talks, the professor assessed that the diplomatic overture could be attributed to Pyongyang’s economic hardship under the sanctions imposed by the UN and other individual countries.

However, the North’s main strategic calculus lies in justifying its possession of a nuclear arsenal, and Pyongyang will promote such ideas to South Korea and the international community throughout inter-Korean talks and the Olympics.

“North Korea might try to find an economic breakthrough, although it has not been proven yet. But there is one thing for sure. It would say its nuclear weapons are harmless and only used for a peaceful purpose. Therefore, we have to stick to our principle of denuclearization.”