<Anchor>

The Kaesong Joint Liaison Office opened in September last year, gathering key figures from North and South Korea. It was hoped that it would become an important foundation for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation in the first ever negotiations since the division.

However, North Korean expert reporter analyzed the intentions of why North Korea decided to leave the office suddenly today (22nd) and why it is doing to us after negotiation with USA is not done well.

<Reporter>

Kaesong Inter - Korean Liaison Office is supposed to hold a meeting between South and North every Friday, but the final meeting was not held on 22nd of last month before Hanoi North Korea talks.

On the 1st and 8th of this month, there was no meeting on the holiday of North and South Korea.

North Korea has recently criticized the South Korean government for acting as a mediator through the external media, with the inter - Korean communication channel showing signs of abnormality.

South Koreans have accused South Korean authorities of being a puppet protagonist in pursuit of US sanctions, and echoed that South Korea should play a role in demanding and saying what it would demand from the United States.

It is a demand to persuade the United States to relax the sanctions if it wants to improve inter-Korean relations with the Korean government that wants to advance inter-Korean relations.

[Shin Bum-chul / Asan Institute for Policy Studies] I think that North Korea is trying to utilize Korea to pull the US into dialogue, and in the process presses the Korean government through liaison office.

The fact that North Korea has withdrawn North Korean personnel from the liaison office and allowed South Korean personnel to remain is a sign that the government will take a closer look at its future actions.

If the Korean government does not intend to persuade North Korea to relax sanctions as it wants, there is a possibility that South Korea will come out with more intense measures.

(Video coverage: Wonbae Kim, Image editing: Park Jung-sam)

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