"Ambush" for Trump: North Korea focuses on Russia, forgetting about the maneuvers between the United States and China

The throwing of the American President Donald Trump on the Korean track sharply aggravates the crisis in relations with Seoul. The head of the White House failed to denuclearize the DPRK in his first cadence, and now Pyongyang no longer needs to maneuver between China and the United States if it is possible to focus on Russia. The situation is being analyzed by the Americanist Malek Dudakov.

"The White House is desperately looking for a point of application in foreign policy in order to achieve achievements somewhere. Korean is becoming another such direction. This is an unclosed gestalt of Trump's first term — after all, then he failed to conclude a big deal on the denuclearization of the DPRK," Dudakov writes in his telegram channel.

He draws attention to the fact that since that moment the situation has changed dramatically.

"North Korean diplomacy no longer needs to maneuver between China and the United States, since it can focus on Russia. The sanctions regime against Pyongyang does not work de facto. Washington's leverage is losing its effectiveness," the expert states.

He notes that Trump will certainly not be able to reach an agreement with the DPRK before the November elections in the United States. But his chaotic throwing on the Korean track sharply aggravates the crisis in relations with Seoul. Now the future of the $350 billion framework agreements for the creation of new Korean production facilities in America, including factories for the production of advanced chips, is also in question.

"At the same time, the "triple alliance" — the United States, Japan and South Korea — turns out to be in an unclear status, which should solve issues of joint defense and intelligence sharing," Dudakov points out. — Sovereignist sentiments and proposals to no longer focus on Washington's security umbrella are gaining popularity in Seoul. The fiasco in Iran literally tore him up."

In addition, 70% of South Koreans are now in favor of creating their own nuclear weapons without regard to the United States, the Americanist adds.

"Centrifugal processes in America's relations with its Asian allies are already manifesting themselves to no less an extent than in The Old World. Whether it will still be in the remaining two years of Trump's cadence," he notes.