North Korea’s tyrannic leader Kim Jong-Un has said he is open to dialogue with South Korea and could send a delegation to the Winter Olympics.
In response, Seoul has proposed high-level talks at a border village and the two sides have now reopened a border hotline that had been closed since February 2016.
But Donald Trump’s administration has responded icily to the developments and suggested Pyongyang “might be trying to drive a wedge” between Washington and Seoul.
And Vincent Brooks, the chief of United States Forces Korea, said expectations had to be kept low.
The commander warned the hermit state’s overture was a strategy to divide the opposition while working towards Kim’s goal of a nuclear-armed state.
He said: “We can’t ignore that reality.”
And he said the US and South Korea would have to maintain an “ironclad and razor sharp” alliance in the face of Pyongyang’s growing threat.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said today it was too soon to say whether the North’s gesture was meaningful.
He said: “I wouldn’t read too much into it because we don’t know if it’s a genuine olive branch.”
“It is difficult for me to disassociate that he’s now wanting to negotiate on any issue after months and months of unanimous United Nations Security Council effort.”
Despite the prospect of talks, Kim has warned that he will push ahead with “mass producing” nuclear warheads, pursuing a weapons programme in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.
Mr Trump and Kim have waged a war of words in recent months, raising fears World War 3 could be sparked.
The US President raised the stakes again this week, responding to Kim’s claim a nuclear button was on his desk.
Mr Trump hit back: “Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
Today, Mr Trump welcomed the prospect of talks and said they were only happening because of his leadership skills.
He tweeted: “With all of the failed ‘experts’ weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn’t firm, strong and willing to commit our total ‘might’ against the North.
“Fools, but talks are a good thing!”