NYT "Contact Office Explosion... Expression of Accumulated Anger Over 'Hanoi Breakdown'"

"North Korea Expresses Anger at Trump"
"Greater Provocations Possible as US Election Approaches"

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kang Ju-hee] North Korea's demolition of the Kaesong Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office on the 16th has been analyzed as an expression of accumulated anger over the collapse of the Hanoi North Korea-U.S. summit in February last year.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 16th (local time) in an article titled "North Korea's Liaison Office Explosion Signals the Death Knell of Inter-Korean Relations," diagnosing that "Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, who returned empty-handed and embarrassed from the second summit with President Donald Trump in February last year, exploded with accumulated anger."

It added, "This explosion effectively shattered the easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula that had been maintained for the past two years," and "With this explosion, Kim Jong-un destroyed one of the substantive legacies of a friendly relationship with President Moon Jae-in and also expressed anger at President Trump's approach."

Furthermore, the NYT analyzed that the failure to achieve sanctions relief for North Korea's economic reconstruction at the Hanoi summit in February last year was the decisive factor that strained the relationship between Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The NYT explained, "For Kim Jong-un, this was a rare difficult situation," and "North Korean propaganda officials had built internal expectations that he would achieve something monumental with the U.S. Instead, by returning empty-handed, he took the risk of appearing weak."

It also reported that behind North Korea's criticism of South Korea was anger toward the Trump administration, citing Lee Sung-hyun, Director of the China Research Center at the Sejong Institute. The director explained, "North Korea needed to express internal dissatisfaction and anger but feared retaliation if it directly provoked the U.S."

The NYT quoted Shin Beom-chul, Director of the Center for Diplomatic and Security Affairs at the Korea Institute for National Strategy, saying, "The escalation of tensions between South and North Korea is part of Kim Jong-un's larger strategy to pressure the U.S.," adding, "As the U.S. presidential election approaches, North Korea is likely to engage in provocations that pose greater threats to the U.S."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.