North Korea has repudiated South Korea’s recent peace overtures, declining to have any dialogue with the South at the moment.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declined the olive branch.
She stressed that South Korea's continued alliance with the United States preclude any possibility of a dialogue currently.
She further stated, the impending joint military exercises between South Korea and the US demonstrate that the new South Korean administration is similar to its predecessors, which regarded terms North Korea with hostility.
Its new unification minister, Chung Dong-young, said he planned to advise South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to adjust joint military drills with the US as the exercises had been criticised by Pyongyang.
Regarding the communication with North Korea as an “urgent priority”, Chung emphasized the need to reestablish talks which were suspended between the two countries since 6 yrs.
While Chung also called Seoul and Pyongyang’s previous decision to suspend mutual propaganda broadcast as the “first signal” of recovering inter-Korean trust, the mutual sentiment was not shared by North Korea as it was regarded as “reversing activities that should not have been initiated in the first place”.
“If South Korea expects to reverse all the consequences of [its actions] with a few sentimental words, there could be no greater miscalculation than that,” Kim Yo Jong said in comments reported by state media.
Following Ms Kim’s press briefing, the South Korea’s Unification Ministry, responsible for maintaining relations between the two nations, stated that Ms Kim’s comments “show the wall of distrust between the South and the North is very high as a result of hostile and confrontational policy over the past few years”. The ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam for South Korea said that Seoul would do the necessary to continue its efforts for reconciliation and cooperation between the two countries.
At the moment, Seoul is engaged in negotiations with Washington to avert tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump and to exacerbate its already deteriorated relations with Pyongyang , Seoul referred to the US alliance as the pillar of South Korea’s diplomacy. This expectedly has not sat well with Pyongyang.
According to Moon Seong-mook, an analyst for the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, Kim Yo Jong’s statement clearly displays North Korea’s intention to negotiate with South Korea only after it abandons the US alliance. It is likely that Ms Kim saw little importance in engaging with South Korea as it could not restart economic projects which previously benefited North Korea as a result of international sanctions in place.
North Korea has enjoyed the cooperation with Russia and has provided troops and conventional weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
While the US President Mr Trump has consistently bragged about his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and also stated to resume diplomacy with him, North Korea’s view of Washington seems contrary to what Trump believes.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, stated “Kim Yo Jong’s comments are an effort to advance national pride by portraying North Korea in a superior position despite its economic struggles and international pariah status”. She also said, “She also seeks to justify Pyongyang’s weapons programs and divide Seoul and Washington by criticising upcoming military exercises.”
North Korea’s stance in regards to any reconciliation with Seoul seems like a long shot. However, Seoul seeks to make efforts to rebuild trust and amicable relations between the two nations.
