A senior policy adviser to the South Korean president says his country is “very much worried about American unilateral military action on North Korea” and a possible “full-blown escalation conflict.”

Moon Chung-in, the South Korean president’s senior foreign policy and unification adviser and a seasoned diplomat, told the PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff that the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang reopened all kinds of communication between North and South Korea, which hadn’t existed until talks about competing under a unified Korean flag began in December.

He said South Korea’s resposnse to provocations from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “sharply different” than those of President Donald Trump’s adminstration.

“If we show panic, then we become hostage to the North Korean tactical move,” Moon told Woodruff. “That’s why we South Koreans tend to be much more calm over the North Korean threat. It is ironical (sic) to note that America is far away from North Korea, but America is most concerned.”

When asked by Woodruff whether the U.S. was too panicked, Moon said: “I don’t know whether it’s contrived or real, but American threat perception has been heightened over the last year.”