Winter Olympics a ‘chance to get US-North Korea talks rolling and avert catastrophe’
Beijing should push ahead and help broker a deal between Pyongyang and Washington, international think tank says
The Winter Olympics in South Korea could be a chance for Washington and Pyongyang to start talking, with the world running out of peaceful answers to the crisis on the Korean peninsula, a top international think tank says.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report on Tuesday that China had suggested that the United States freeze miliary exercises in the region in exchange for North Korea suspending its nuclear weapons programme, and Beijing should push ahead and help broker a deal between Pyongyang and Washington based on the proposal.
It said the chance of a cataclysmic war in the region was higher than at any time in recent history as US President Donald Trump applied a “maximum pressure” policy to counter North Korea’s repeated nuclear provocations.
North Korea’s relations with China, Pyongyang’s top trade and diplomatic ally, have plunged as Beijing has supported a series of United Nations sanctions against North Korea and edged closer to Trump’s position.
The release of the ICG’s report comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to open dialogue with the South for the first time in over two years.