<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;" align="center">Earlier this month, North and South Korea shocked the world with the Winter Olympics announcement and now the North Korea state media outlet is making a call for unification.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">According to <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reuters</em>, it said Koreans should &ldquo;promote contact, travel, cooperation between North and South Korea&rdquo; and that Pyongyang will &ldquo;smash&rdquo; those who oppose the reunification on Thursday.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The state media announcement also said that &ldquo;all Koreans at home and abroad&rdquo; should make a &ldquo;breakthrough&rdquo; for unification without the assistance of other countries.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It appears as though North Korea is sending a message to the U.S. to stay out of the conflict in the Korean peninsula.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;The announcement, issued after a joint meeting of government and political parties, added Koreans should wage an energetic drive to defuse the acute military tension and create a peaceful climate on the Korean peninsula,&rdquo; writes <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reuters.</em> &ldquo;Military tension on the Korean peninsula was a &ldquo;fundamental obstacle&rdquo; for the improvement of inter-Korean relations and unification, the North&rsquo;s official news agency said. It added joint military drills with &ldquo;outside forces&rdquo; has shown to be unhelpful for the development of relations between North and South Korea.&rdquo;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is the latest move by North Korea to play nice since the New Year. The country&rsquo;s leader Kim Jong Un mentioned both unification and having North Korea participate in the Winter Olympics in his New Year&rsquo;s address.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Soon after the speech, the two countries started to communicate directly after two years of suspended contact.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">About a week ago, North and South Korea agreed to have their athletes march together under one flag at the Winter Games taking place next month in Pyeongchang.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Although North Kora wants the U.S. to stay out of it, President Donald Trump&rsquo;s efforts to pressure North Korea to halt building its Nuclear Weapon program has proven to be fruitful.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that Trump deserves &ldquo;big credit&rdquo; for the recent meetings between the enemies. ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;I think President Trump deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks,&rdquo; said Moon at a news conference, as reported by ;<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reuters.</em> ;&ldquo;It could be a resulting work of the U.S.-led sanctions and pressure.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However, the Trump Administration, along with other world powers like Japan, don&rsquo;t think North Korea can be trusted. This could just be part of a scheme to drive a wedge between South Korea and the U.S. or to buy North Korea more time to continue its nuclear weapons program.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Author&rsquo;s note:</strong> So far, the North Korea state media is only reporting this. So, it&rsquo;s premature to say how serious this is. But, this could be a step in the right direction. It also could just be North Korea trying to manipulate ;its people (as usual) and the rest of the world.</p>
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