By Jun Ji-hye
The Donald Trump administration is seemingly turning positive about dialogue with North Korea, while Pyongyang is apparently exercising restraint in its rhetoric against Washington.
North Korea has made no provocations since its July 28 test-firing of what it claimed was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), though it has more recently threatened to fire missiles toward Guam.
President Trump said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has begun to “respect” Washington, suggesting his administration is taking a positive view on a possible thaw in U.S.-North Korea relations.
“I respect the fact that I believe he (Kim) is starting to respect us,” Trump said at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, according to Bloomberg. “Maybe, probably not, something positive will come out of it.”
Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said dialogue between the United States and North Korea could be possible in the “near future,” welcoming what he called the “restraint” the Kim regime had shown recently with its nuclear and missile programs.
“I think it is worth noting, we have had no missile launches or provocative acts on the part of, or provocative actions, on the part of North Korea since the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution,” Tillerson said at the State Department.
“I am pleased to see that the regime in Pyongyang has demonstrated restraint. We hope this is the signal we have been looking for, that they are ready to restrain provocative acts. And perhaps we are seeing a pathway in the near future to having some dialogue.”
The repressive state test-fired Hwasong-14 ICBMs, July 4 and 28, claiming the missile was capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland.
Military tension here has been further escalated after Kim threatened to strike areas around Guam with four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles in response to Trump’s warnings of “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
For his part, Trump also tweeted that Washington’s nuclear arsenal was “now stronger and more powerful than ever before” and that the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” to deal with the North’s provocations.
Amid the heightened tension, several U.S. generals and commanders have visited South Korea and stressed diplomatic efforts were the preferred means over military action to resolve tension.
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, who visited Seoul last week, said the armed forces were putting top priority on supporting diplomatic and economic efforts to better deter the Kim regime and that military options are only a contingency if these efforts fail.
Adm. Harry Harris who commands the U.S. Pacific Command made similar comments during his visit here Tuesday, saying, “We hope and we work for a diplomatic solution to challenges presented by Kim Jong-un.”
But it remains to be seen whether a breakthrough could be made in Washington-Pyongyang relations as the North criticized President Trump’s Twitter habits shortly after he claimed the North had started to respect the U.S.
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency claimed Trump tweets “weird articles of his ego-driven thoughts” and “spouts rubbish to make his assistants have a hard time.”