Some thoughts on North Korea’s destruction of the joint liaison office (for those who care):

1. The optics of the decision are more frightening than the actual decision. The office wasn’t really functioning that well anyway. The North pulled their senior people out long ago.

2. When North Korean officials speak, we ought to listen. Kim Yo-jong and Ri Song-gwon gave us a game-plan statements a week ago through their statements. They are now executing that plan quickly and methodically.

3. Some are suggesting the North is dialing up the pressure on Moon Jae-in so he breaks with Washington on sanctions relief. That’s always part of the North’s plan. But another explanation may be that Kim has made a decision to fundamentally ditch dialogue with the South.

4. This demolition was a long time coming. The environment for all of this was set after Hanoi 2019, when Kim walked away empty handed, angry, and humiliated. It has been 0 steps forward, 2 steps back ever since. What did we expect?

5. What happens now? At best, more of the same. Expect the tension between the two Koreas to continue. Eventually Moon will have to stop pretending his inter-Korean initiative is still alive. As long as Washington holds a veto over Seoul’s policy towards the North, it won’t be.