Expert: DPRK sees Olympics as bargaining chip

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The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held their first high-level talks in two years on Tuesday. Ostensibly, the talks focused on the Winter Olympics to be held in ROK next month. But is that the final goal here? Wang Peng, research fellow of the China Institute at Fudan University was exclusively interviewed by CGTN on the issue.

“Strategy is strategy,” Wang Peng said.

In Wang’s view, the Olympics is just a game. He believes that it is incorrect to say participating in the game is the final goal of the DPRK. The final goal is to use participation as a tool to secure more negotiating room and to create more opportunities to further the development of bilateral ties as well as DPRK’s nuclear program and its economy.

For China, US and ROK, they don’t know what’s their main goal, whether it is maintaining stability and peace or denuclearization, he said. This is very important problem for them, he added.

Wang said that the ROK’s alliance with the US is a cornerstone of all its security strategies. But the relations between ROK and US are mutually contradictory with the inter-Koreas negotiations.

“Maybe the ROK is still making mistakes going along an old path,” said Wang.