South Korea has to reshape its North Korean policy from a zero base as the regional balance of power between the United States and China will likely face challenges with the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump next year, an expert said Friday.

"When we look into the inter-Korean relationship, we have to bear in mind that Northeast Asia is moving under the bigger frame of U.S.-China relations," Cho Byung-koo, director and senior research fellow of the Department of North Korean Economy at the state-run Korea Development Institute, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

"As the U.S. chose Trump as its new president, there will be a big change in how Washington will handle Beijing either in a hawkish or dovish manner."

The expert, however, pointed out that the problem is low predictability in Trump's foreign policies, most of which have remained unknown in terms of direction and content. The businessman-turned-politician has a broader boundary of his behavior than that of his predecessors, including Barack Obama, who has clear Chinese and North Korean guidelines and moved accordingly.

But Trump has been acting in a totally different way, said Cho. He has made anti-China remarks and threats during his campaigns, and had a telephone call with the Taiwanese president that provoked the Beijing government, while he suggested a meeting over hamburgers with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"We don't know what he will do. As he used to be a businessman, he may use Taiwan as a bargaining chip to get a better deal from China," Cho said. "Against this backdrop, anything can happen, such as direct dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang, and hard-line measures against the North."

Therefore, the KDI director suggested South Korea draw up a new North Korean policy from the outset, given the fact that the U.S. can consider launching negotiations with the reclusive country or intensifying military risks in the region.

"We are not a major player in the region, and we have weaker bargaining chips than the U.S., China and the North in the game of politics," he said. "Even a small shift will bring about a bigger impact on South Korea, as we now struggle with the aftermath of the U.S.-led missile system."

Recently, the U.S. decided to deploy its defense shield, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, in South Korea, which remains helpless when angry China took retaliatory action against South Korean goods and TV programs.

Cho said the Seoul government will also come to a deadlock when the new U.S. government demands it pay for defense costs of 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as Trump has pledged to do so during his campaign.

"We have no choice. We just walk on a tightrope," said the 60-year-old expert, who will retire at the end of December from the KDI. "We will face a murkier security landscape at least for the next two years until the U.S. foreign policy is established to some extent." (Yonhap)