North Korea is not likely to attack any of its neighboring countries despite what the United States is trying to imply, says An American political analyst.

Keith Preston, the Virginia-based Director of AttacktheSystem.com, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV about the standoff between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear weapon programs.

US Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that “there is no daylight” in the standoff although both Koreas were seemingly closer following the North’s agreement to send athletes to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

While many expected the standoff to be toned down, Pence said that nothing had changed and South Korean President Moon Jae-in was also in favor of keeping the North under pressure.

Preston said Sunday that Pyongyang was trying to separate Seoul from Washington.

“Right now, it looks like the North Korean strategy is to try to drive a wedge between the United States and South Korea,” Preston said.

“The North Koreans understand that their ability to negotiate with Americans is not going to be particularly strong at this point so instead I think they are turning In the other direction trying to extend an olive branch to the South Koreans,” he argued.

The analyst said there was no signs that the North was preparing to attack the South or Japan as the US wanted to insinuate.

“North Koreans, I think, are simply about to protect their own position. I don’t think that they really have any ambitions to attack any of these surrounding countries in the region,” he argued.

The analyst predicted, however, that the tensions were going nowhere as none of the two sides was willing to stand back.

“It is unlikely that anything is going to change, most likely the two nations are going to insult each other rhetorically and make rhetorical threats just as they have for decades and that would probably continue for the foreseeable future,” Preston concluded.