North Korea: Kim Jong-un's sister rules out repairing relations with Seoul
The new South Korean government has called on Pyongyang to end the decades-long conflict that has persisted since the end of the Korean War.
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un
(AFP) Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un, ruled out any dialogue with Seoul after South Korea’s new president expressed willingness to repair their strained relations.
The new Lee Jae-myung administration in Seoul has distanced itself from the aggressive stance of its predecessor, Yoon Suk-yeol, which led to the worst relations with Pyongyang in decades, and has proposed starting dialogue with North Korea without preconditions.
In a symbolic gesture, Lee’s government ordered the shutdown of loudspeakers broadcasting South Korean propaganda into North Korea along the border—and Pyongyang followed suit.
But if South Korea "hoped it could reverse everything that happened with a few sentimental words, there is no more serious miscalculation than this," Kim Yo-jong said in a statement to the official KCNA news agency.”
"We once again clarify the official stance that no matter what policy Seoul adopts or what proposal Seoul makes, we have no interest in it and there is no reason to meet or any issue to be discussed" with South Korea, he said.
Kim Jong-un’s influential sister’s message marks the first official response to the new South Korean government’s outreach.
South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam attributed this message "to the high level of mistrust between the two over years of hostile policies."
The two countries have technically remained at war since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
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