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US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands in Panmunjom on June 30, 2019. (Kim Jung-hyo, staff photographer)

The US has been warning against “provocation” and watching developments closely amid North Korea’s increasingly threatening statements and hints at the possibility of military action. Some US news outlets have pessimistically interpreted the situation as a return to “square one” for North Korea-US relations two years after their first summit in Singapore.

In a June 13 response to a strongly worded statement by Kim Yo-jong, first deputy director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), the US State Department said it was “disappointed” in North Korea’s recent actions and statements. The “statements” Washington referred to were Pyongyang’s response to the US position on North Korea’s announcement on June 9 that it was going to cut off all communication channels with the South. Also, while the US had urged North Korea to “return to diplomacy and cooperation,” the latest ones added a call to “avoid provocation.” Observers see this as confirmation that the US is closely observing North Korea’s movements and has sent a cautionary message not to pursue military actions.

With four and a half months remaining before the presidential election, US President Donald Trump has been focusing more on making sure Pyongyang does not cross any further lines rather than making progress in dialogue. Trump has touted the halt to Pyongyang’s nuclear testing and ICBM launches as a formidable achievement under his administration. While he did not specifically target North Korea, Trump stated that the US could pursue a response in principle. Speaking that day at a US Military Academy graduation speech, he declared, “Let our enemies be on notice: If our people are threatened, we will never, ever hesitate to act. And when we fight, from now on, we will fight only to win.”

Against this backdrop, many in the US have come out criticizing Trump’s North Korea policy on the second anniversary of the June 12 North Korea-US summit in 2018. In an article titled “From 'beautiful letters' to 'a dark nightmare': How Trump's North Korea gamble went bust,” published on June 13, NBC News noted the failure to achieve denuclearization of North Korea despite two meetings between Trump and Kim Jong-un.

National Public Radio (NPR) also concluded that inter-Korean relations had returned to square one two years after the major breakthrough claimed by Trump with the Singapore summit, adding that Pyongyang appeared to have made preparations for additional provocations.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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