North Korea rejects Seoul's efforts at reconciliation
SEOUL, July 28 (UPI) -- Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Monday that Pyongyang had "no interest" in efforts by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to improve hostile relations between the neighbors.
Her statement was the North's first official comment on Lee, who was elected in June after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over his botched martial law attempt.
"We did not care who is elected president or what policy is being pursued in the ROK and, therefore, have not made any assessment of it so far," Kim said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.
Kim said that the new administration's ongoing military ties with Washington made any efforts at rapprochement pointless.
"When only the 50-odd days since Lee Jae Myung's assumption to power are brought to light ... their blind trust to the ROK-U.S. alliance and their attempt to stand in confrontation with the DPRK are little short of their predecessor's," Kim said, using the official acronym for North Korea.
"We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither the reason to meet nor the issue to be discussed," Kim said.
Lee has pledged to improve inter-Korean relations, which have sharply deteriorated in recent years after a period of diplomatic progress in 2018-19. Last month, he suspended propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ and cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. Seoul also recently repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats several months ago.
Kim, however, rejected the administration's gestures in her statement, calling the loudspeaker suspensions "nothing but a reversible turning back of what they should not have done in the first place."
"In other words, it is not the work worthy of appreciation," she said.
Seoul's Ministry of Unification, which oversees inter-Korean relations, said Kim's remarks showed that Pyongyang is "closely watching the direction of the Lee Jae Myung administration's policy toward North Korea."
"The wall of distrust between the South and the North is very high due to the hostile confrontation policy of the past few years," ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam said at a press briefing on Monday.
"The government will not overreact to North Korea's response, but will continue to calmly and consistently pursue efforts to create inter-Korean relations of reconciliation and cooperation and to realize peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula," Koo said.
Newly appointed Unification Minister Chung Dong-young emphasized the need to resume dialogue with North Korea when he took office on Friday.
"Restoring disconnected communication channels between North and South Korea is an urgent priority for resuming inter-Korean dialogue and quickly restoring trust," Chung said during a visit to the border truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ.
In her statement, Kim called for the Unification Ministry to be abolished and said that Chung was "spinning a daydream" with reconciliation efforts.
"There can be no change in our state's understanding of the enemy and they can not turn back the hands of the clock ... which has radically changed the character of the DPRK-ROK relations," she said.
In October, North Korea revised its Constitution to declare the South a "hostile state" after Kim Jong Un called for the rejection of the long-held official goal of reunification.
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