An army soldier passes by a TV showing a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a news program at the Seoul Station in Seoul, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap

Experts say tension on the peninsula likely to persist

By Yi Whan-woo

By toning down the brinkmanship over South Korea this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to be attempting to see if the Seoul can convince the United States to ease sanctions on his reclusive state.

The sanctions, however, are likely to last as the world is unconvinced by the North's promises about denuclearization and as such the heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula will continue for the time being, according to international experts in email interviews.

Joseph DeTrani, former U.S. special envoy for six-party talks with Pyongyang

This is directly opposite to President Moon Jae-in's gesture for peace when he brought up declaring an end to the Korean War on the 70th anniversary of its outbreak, Thursday.

Formally ending the war was an element of the Panmunjeom Declaration jointly announced during the first Moon-Kim summit in April 2018. The North sees it as key to having the security of its regime guaranteed by the international community.

"I believe Kim Jong-un is waiting to see how South Korea and the U.S. respond," said Joseph DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks with Pyongyang and an ambassador for the National Committee on North Korea in Washington, D.C.

He referred to Kim suspending plans for "military action," Wednesday, which had been pledged by his younger sister and the North's de-facto second-in-command Kim Yo-jong in several vitriolic statements.

"Kim Yo-jong's criticism of the leadership in Seoul was, in my view, driven by the hope Pyongyang had that Seoul could convince the U.S. to provide some sanctions relief, especially now," DeTrani said, adding "North Korea believes that the ball is now in Seoul's and Washington's courts."