Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 6) — A political analyst said he is unsure on what the Philippines’ role is on the North Korea dispute.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he had talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping about North Korea “at the behest” of U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. may be seeking allies, said Professor Robert Kelly, an expert in Korean politics at Pusan National University in South Korea, whose interview with international media BBC went viral after he was interrupted by his children.
“It’s not entirely clear to me like what that Philippine role in the North Korea discussion is. I suppose the U.S. broadly speaking needs allies out here in east Asia,” Kelly said on Friday.
Trump called Duterte on April 29, after the first leg of the biannual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit.
Kelly, who is in Manila for a series of lectures in Ateneo de Manila University, said the Philippines is still in danger as it is on the path of North Korea’s missile tests.
“If they fire it over Japan, they fire it east they really risk serious Japanese and American retaliation right? Firing South then it flies near you all and that’s the thing I’d expect most concerned about,” he said.
In 2012, the Philippine government prepared for a North Korean rocket launch which was expected to fall in Philippine territory. The launch failed.
The Philippines has established bilateral relations with North Korea since 1949, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Philippines was the fifth country to recognize the Republic of Korea, which was inaugurated in 1948.
In April, Duterte said he would ask Trump to avoid going to war with North Korea to spare the region from the consequences.
However, Kelly said a war between U.S. and North Korea is unlikely for now.
