Some U.S. media reports on Sunday suggest that North Korea’s excessive expectations are likely what led to the collapse of working-level talks with the U.S. in Stockholm on Saturday. 

The Washington Post published a story quoting Chad O’Carroll, chief executive of the Korea Risk Group, as saying that North Korean negotiators might have gone to Stockholm with a “radical expectation” after U.S. President Donald Trump fired National Security Adviser John Bolton and floated a possibility of a “new method” in talks.

Quoting O’Carroll in an analysis written for the Korea Risk Group website NK Pro, the Post said “ahead of what is likely to be a bumpy election campaign for Trump in 2020, ​it appears that the North may be hoping that the combined effect of the ticking clock and American fears of long-range missile and nuclear tests in the year ahead will stimulate a significant shift in U.S. strategy.”

The Wall Street Journal(WSJ) published a story suggesting that the North appears to be aiming to secure concessions by raising its threat level. 

The piece quoted Lee Sung-yoon, a Korea expert at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, as saying that close Pyongyang watchers have pointed out that North Korea has repeatedly stomped away from talks, hoping to gain tactical advantages by creating a crisis, playing hard-to-get and aiming to extract concessions.

The WSJ story also said North Korea experts believe that the collapse of talks in Stockholm could serve as justification for an angry Kim Jong-un regime to conduct even more weapon tests.

[Photo : YONHAP News]