The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Yo Jong said Saturday that her country intends to take steps towards repairing relations with South Korea, and perhaps even discuss holding another summit between the two countries’ leaders, if the South abandons what she described as “enmity and double standards.”
Analysts believe that North Korea is taking advantage of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s desire for rapprochement between the two Koreas, to pressure Seoul, to persuade the administration of US President Joe Biden, to ease the crippling sanctions imposed by the United States on the North’s nuclear weapons program, or to stop the exercises. The US, South Korean joint warship.
In her remarks, Kim, a senior official in charge of inter-Korean affairs, criticized Seoul for describing the North’s recent weapons tests as provocations, while the South is trying to increase its military capabilities.
North Korea often accuses Seoul of hypocrisy for its pursuit of modern weapons while calling for talks to ease tensions on the divided peninsula.
Kim urged South Korea to abandon “unfair double standards, hostile policies toward North Korea, various prejudices and hostile comments that destroy trust” if it wanted Pyongyang to heed its calls for improved relations.
Kim added that if the two Koreas can build mutual trust, North Korea could heed South Korea’s calls to announce an official end to the Korean War, restore the inter-Korean liaison office that North Korea destroyed in 2020, and discuss holding another summit.
“There is no need for the North and the South to waste time criticizing each other and engaging in a war of words for now,” Kim said, noting that the future of bilateral relations depends on the choices the South makes.
“I wouldn’t expect here what was to come, either a gentle breeze or a storm,” she added.
