General Vincent K. Brooks, commander of US Forces Korea (USFK), said he remained unsure about the motives behind Kim’s recent peace offensive.
Speaking at a lunch meeting organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea in Seoul, Gen Brooks said: “The fact that the inter-Korean talks happened, I think, is notable, and that such a step has not been chosen before by North Korea.
“What is the motivation? We don’t know. We will have to see that over time.”
Gen Brooks, top US military official in South Korea who leads the 28,500-strong USFK, made his comments a day after the two Koreas held high-level talks on the North’s participation in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics in their first formal dialogue in two years.
He said: “South Korea put this offer out there months ago, so the fact that something changed should get our attention.
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“We’ve seen occasions where North Korea instead of coming to a meeting with a productive sense, they come in with a disruptive sense where it’s more theatrical than it is productive.
“In this case, there appears to have been an earnest meeting.”
During Tuesday’s talks North Korea accepted Seoul’s proposal to hold military negotiations to reduce tensions and send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.
The agreement marked a major breakthrough following years of frosty ties between the two countries and in last year’s heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations.
But some analysts have warned the talks are a “very clever” tactical decision by Kim.
Daniel Sneider of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Centre said: “This is all about, I think, a very clever tactical decision on the part of Kim Jong-un to open the door to these North South talks.
“The South Korean government, Moon Jae-in, has been trying since he came to power last year to open up this kind of dialogue.
“The North Korean’s have said no and they turned around and opened the door.”