Just hours after North Korea tested two cruise missiles at sea, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that talks with North Korea should not have a political purpose, but should contribute to peace.
Speaking at a wide-ranging press conference to celebrate his first 100 days in office, Yoon didn’t just mention the launches, which would later be made public by the South Korean military.
Yoon has called for dialogue with Pyongyang since his campaign, reiterating his desire to gradually provide economic aid to North Korea if it ends nuclear weapons development and begins denuclearization.
“Any dialogue between Southern and Northern leaders, or negotiations between worker-level officials, should not be a political spectacle but contribute to an important peace-building on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia,” he said.
The comments were a clear criticism of the summits attended by his predecessor Moon Jae-in, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and then US President Donald Trump.
Despite these meetings, denuclearization talks stalled in 2019, and North Korea said it would not give up on self-defense, despite calling for an end to sanctions.
The North Korean launches on Wednesday are reported for the first time in months and come a day after South Korea and the United States began preliminary joint exercises before the resumption of interrupted field training on the Moon.
source: Noticias
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