On the Korean Peninsula

The absence of a strong though often apathetic Western power and a power-hungry paper tiger has made North Korea quite bold as of late:

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Friday her country is willing to resume talks with South Korea if conditions are met, indicating it wants Seoul to persuade Washington to relax crippling economic sanctions.

Kim Yo Jong’s statement came days after North Korea performed its first missile tests in six months, which some experts said were intended to show it will keep boosting its weapons arsenal if the U.S.-led sanctions continue while nuclear diplomacy remains stalled.

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South Korea on Sunday urged North Korea to restore dormant communication hotlines, a day after the North repeated an offer to open conditional talks.

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North Korea on Monday accused the United States of keeping up its “hostile policy” and demanded the Biden administration permanently end joint military exercises with South Korea even as it continued its recent streak of weapons tests apparently aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul over slow nuclear diplomacy.

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North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea Tuesday at nearly the same moment its U.N. diplomat was decrying the U.S.'s “hostile policy” against it, in an apparent return to its pattern of mixing weapons displays with peace overtures to wrest outside concessions.

 

Also:

Moon Jae-in also awarded distinguished service medals posthumously to two Korean immigrant soldiers. There was one notably absent aspect to these ceremonies, however. The White House didn’t dispatch any high-level officials to greet the South Korean president or participate in the ceremonies at the joint base at Pearl Harbor. He was instead met by Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the Indo-Pacific Command.