North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister criticized Seoul’s offer of economic aid in exchange for denuclearization of the communist country on Friday, calling the offer “the peak of nonsense” and dismissing any possibility of face-to-face negotiations.
Kim Yo-jong’s statement was a response to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan this week to provide the North with food, energy and infrastructure if it abandons its nuclear weapons program.
An offer that has no chance of being accepted
Analysts had predicted that the bid’s chances of success would decline, as Pyongyang has invested most of its wealth in its military program and has repeatedly made it clear that it will not accept such a deal.
Kim Jong-un’s sister warned that the assumption that the North would negotiate over its nuclear program was false. “Our honor is when we see that his plan to trade ‘economic cooperation’ for our nuclear weapons is Yoon’s big dream, hope and plan, we realize how naive he was,” said a statement released by the official northern agency. -Korean KCNA.
“Of course we won’t meet him face to face,” he added, before accusing the South of trying to reinvent the same proposals that the North had already rejected.
The South Korean presidential office expressed “deep regret” over Kim Yo-jong’s “humiliating” remarks, but added that the economic aid offer remained valid.
“Such an attitude by North Korea does not contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula or its own future. It only promotes its isolation on the international stage,” a representative of the South Korean government said.
Tests and reprisals
Last week, Pyongyang threatened South Korea with “deadly” reprisals for blaming the country for a recent Covid-19 outbreak on its territory. In July, Kim Jong-un declared his country was “ready to deploy” the nuclear deterrent in the event of a military conflict with the United States and South Korea. On Wednesday, Pyongyang also fired two cruise missiles.
According to Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, Kim Yo-jong’s statements “make it clear” that Pyongyang will never give up on its nuclear program. The director also states that in this way, South Korean Yoon’s policies will have to be revised.
In 2022, North Korea conducted a record series of weapons tests, including the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The United States and South Korea have warned that Pyongyang is preparing to resume nuclear testing.
source: Noticias
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