Trump’s first confidential briefing was about North Korea

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump went on twitter to criticize North Korea. Trump tweeted Monday, “North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen.” This has been Trump’s first official acknowledgement of North Korea’s nuclear weapon since his election win as his response to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s warning that North Korea’s preparation for a launch of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is at the final stage through his new year’s speech.

Reuters has reported that the first and only briefing Trump had requested was a classified intelligence briefing on North Korean nuclear development last month. The dominant view has been that the policy momentum to continue negotiation on North Korea will lose some steam as Trump has said that his administration’s diplomatic approach will shift to staying away from international conflicts. Surprisingly, the U.S. would take more actions on North Korea. As a matter of fact, to be frank, President Obama has neglected on North Korean issues under the banner of “strategic patience.” Now, the U.S. seems to adopt a new policy framework to deal with North Korea.

In addition, Trump blamed China on tweeter, “China has been taking out of massive amounts of money and wealth from the U.S. in totally one sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea” amid growing tensions between the U.S. and China. China conducted military drills in the South China Sea with its first aircraft carrier Liaoning. In response, the U.S. operated its aircraft carrier fleets. Chun Yung-woo, chairman of Korea Peninsula Future Forum, described the current situation in a recent column, “If the U.S. tries to take advantage of increasing pressure to China to deal with North Korea, North Korea’s gesture of peaceful reconciliation can provide an unexpected breakthrough.”

North Korea has been silent after Trump won the election. The North Korean regime is now making bold attempts to get a confirmation on its claimed position on nuclear power through realignment of its relations with the new U.S. administration. “North Korea plans to complete development of nuclear weapon by the end of 2017 and claim a confirmed position of nuclear weapon, and engage in a new dialogue with a new U.S. administration,” said Thae Yong-Ho, North Korea's former deputy ambassador to Britain. Trump had also suggested resuming bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang. Unfortunately, South Korea can be ostracized in this progress. In order to avoid it, South Korea should make multi-directional diplomatic efforts to persuade the new U.S. administration, claiming that U.S.-South Korea alliance should not be undermined by China and it provides real benefits to the U.S. in consideration of Trump’s big interests in delivering actual benefits to the U.S.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has announced that the opposition to THHAD deployment will be one of China’s core foreign policies for 2017. Against this backdrop, a delegation of eight lawmakers from the opposition Minjoo Party of Korea will visit China to talk with Chinese foreign officials. Led by Rep. Song Yong-gil, the delegation plans to deliver a message of Moon Jae-in, a strong presidential candidate of the Minjoo Party, about a “re-review of THAAD deployment.” However, this will only hint that the Minjoo Party and a new administration led by Moon would choose a pro-China policy, putting a wedge between South Korea and the U.S. with Trump supporting “America first.” No matter what they say, the foundation of security in South Korea must come from an alliance between South Korea and the U.S.