As sanctions take hold, the silence may be part of Kim Jong Un’s hope to hold constructive talks with South Korea and the US in coming weeks.
North Korea has remained strangely silent as US-South Korean military drills got underway this month, an event that usually agitates the hermit state’s leader Kim Jong Un.
The latest joint military exercises, which were postponed until after the Winter Olympics, began on April 1. North Korea has a history of provocative actions during the drills but there has been no overt actions so far, and the country’s state media has made almost no mention of the drills.
The observation was made by Ankit Panda, a senior editor at The Diplomat.
« We’re a full week in the US-ROK Foal Eagle exercises and hardly a peep from North Korea in official media, » he tweeted .
Foal Eagle is the name given to a month-long joint field exercise which usually includes air, ground, naval and special operations troops. Another exercise, Key Resolve, a two week-long computer-simulated drill, will occur in mid-April.
The drills will involve around 300,000 South Korean forces and more than 23,000 US troops.
