Pyongyang demanded that South Korea stop attempting to mediate between the US and North Korea in a surprisingly curt statement. It comes just a week after Seoul approved 50,000 tons worth of food aid to their struggling neighbours, who are still under crippling economic sanctions. Senior Foreign Ministry official Kwon Jong Gun said that the country “would never go through” South Korea again when dealing with Washington.

He added: “It is absolutely not an issue where the South Korean government can meddle in.

“It’s better for the South Korean authorities to mind their own business at home.”

The main reason for this relates to North Korea’s own struggles under American sanctions – and subsequent desire to remove them.

This can only be achieved, in Washington’s own words, with complete denuclearisation from Pyongyang.

Following February’s failed summit in Hanoi, US President Donald Trump said: “We have to have sanctions and he wants to denuke, but he wants to just do areas that are less important than the areas that we want.

“We know the country very well, believe it or not. We know every inch of that country, and we have to get what we have to get. Because that’s a big give.”

North Korea, however, are reluctant to give up their nuclear weapons for fear that they act as a deterrence against foreign invasion.

With a volatile leader in Trump sitting in the White House, Pyongyang knows that anything could happen in a short space of time.

Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un thought he had made a landmark breakthrough when he got Trump to the negotiating table.

However, summits in Singapore and Hanoi, despite initial optimism, ultimately ended with empty rhetoric and no concrete proposals.

Regardless of this, the meetings themselves indicate a desire from both sides to get a deal done – and Kim may have found a way to gain more leverage in negotiations.

Last week hopes rose of resumed talks when it was revealed that Trump and Kim exchanged personal letters and expressed mutual praise.

With the North Korean leader saying he received an “excellent” personal letter from Washington, Trump showered praise on Kim’s “beautiful” correspondence.

This may lay the groundwork for a possible third summit – and the eventual removal of economic sanctions.

As such, North Korea appears happy with the trajectory that diplomacy is currently travelling at, regardless of some minor blips in rhetoric along the way.

Xi Jinping’s visit to the country – the first by a Chinese leader for 14 years – indicated that the secretive state seem happy to use China as their intermediary.

The Chinese premier said he was happy to personally intervene in nuclear talks between the two countries.

And from North Korea’s perspective, it is preferable to have the world’s largest – and arguably most powerful – nation lobbying on their behalf.

That is exactly what Kim will hope his Chinese counterpart does at the G20 summit on Friday, where Xi will have talks with Trump.

Despite an eventual desire for a united Korea, Pyongyang sees no need for Seoul – a country which relies on the US for arms and political support – as a necessary arbitrator.

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