North Korea is open to negotiating with the South, Japan and the U.S., but only to the extent that it undermines the trilateral security alliance between the three, an expert has said. 

In an email interview, Balazs Szalontai, historian and assistant professor at Kwangwoon University’s Department of International Studies, talked with NK News about the intricacies of engagement with North Korea, and what history shows regarding North Korea’s approach to engagement efforts.

Szalontai has researched and written extensively on North Korea’s internal, cultural and foreign policies, and in his book Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era: Soviet-DPRK Relations