On Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un suspended a liaison office with South Korea. Kim knows that South Korean President Moon Jae-in wants peace at all costs, so he’s demanding more concessions in return for re-opening that office.

It’s a clever gambit that fits naturally with Kim’s and China’s overarching interest in splitting South Korea from the U.S. They believe that such a split would dilute the U.S. military presence in South Korea and the surrounding area, and increase the chance that South Korea demanded Trump not launch military strikes on North Korea from its soil.