Yonhap reports that Victor Cha, an ex-Trump administration official who was recently dropped from consideration for the post of US ambassador to South Korea, expressed skepticism on Wednesday about Pyongyang’s offer to discuss denuclearization with the US.
In a piece published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Cha reportedly said it’s too early to say if a diplomatic breakthrough has been achieved in the North Korean nuclear crisis.
“North Korea’s willingness to talk to the United States is a step forward in averting a crisis, but the formulation conveyed by North Korea of ‘denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’ is not new and reflects Pyongyang’s desire to achieve the end of US extended deterrence guarantees to its South Korean ally and the attenuation of the current alliance commitment,” he wrote in the piece co-authored by CSIS fellow Lisa Collins.
The White House reportedly dropped Cha from consideration as a candidate for US ambassador to Korea in January after he criticized the idea of a US preemptive strike on North Korea.