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Russia, which used to be a partner in the United States’ desire to denuclearize North Korean, is now using North Korea as a way to frustrate America’s grand ambitions in East Asia.

“The sad truth is that international trend lines point toward a North Korea that may feel it is less dependent on the need to denuclearize. … For now, at least, they have ideological bedfellows who will be a little bit less demanding and a little bit more conducive to North Korea‘s diplomatic and national security goals,” he said.

Yoon said China must put forth “constructive efforts to denuclearize North Korea” if the North continues its banned missile tests.

In past years, the U.S. and South Korea had cancelled or scaled back some of their regular drills as part of diplomatic efforts to denuclearize North Korea and out of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yoon said he isn’t demanding North Korea to completely denuclearize upfront, but appeared to set a high bar for talks, citing inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency as an example of the steps the North should take in order to receive economic benefits.