Then he declared the country’s nuclear arsenal “complete” and came knocking on the door of the outside world. Soo Kim, an analyst at the RAND Corporation, said Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal was largely what made the encounter possible. The same year, Kim chatted in the woods with the Moon and had several meetings with Xi Jinping of China — North Korea’s primary backer. “Economically, North Korea is at the very bottom in the international order,” said Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. “But with its nuclear arsenal, it is able to exercise its influence between two world powers, the United States and China,” he added.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 15, 2021 07:19 UTC