Seoul, Korea
CNN
–
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun said in state media on Monday that South Korea remains North Korea’s “enemy” despite recent moves by Seoul to ease tensions along the 38th parallel.
North Korea has “not interested” in consultations with the South no matter what proposals are offered, Kim Yeo Jung said in a statement released by the South Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim’s comments marked North Korea’s first official response since the new South Korean government took office on June 4th, following months of political turmoil over the disgraced former leader Yoon Sook Yeol’s declaration of martial law in December.
Yoon said the declaration of martial law, which the National Assembly retracted six hours later, is necessary to combat North Korea’s influence among opponents of his leadership in the South Korean government.
Since President Lee Jae Myung’s election, the overture to the settlement has not erased the way South Korea and the US military alliance “stained” the southern half of the South Korean peninsula, she added.
The statement said the new South Korean president’s reaffirmation of the US alliance shows that there is no opportunity for improvement in relations between the North and South.
Kim said the new Lee administration is a little different to Yoon’s government and would explain what is called “blind trust” in the Seoul-Washington alliance.
“There is no change in our understanding of our state’s enemies. They cannot return the hand of the clock of history,” Kim said in a statement Monday.
Former President Yoon supported the hardlining stance against Pyongyang. This was strengthened by strong South Korea’s military ties. This included strengthening the joint military movement, and the US Navy’s ballistic missile submarines and aircraft carriers visiting South Korea’s ports and approving participation in a tripartite military exercise with Japan.
In its first official comment on North and South relations under the Lee administration, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification on Monday said it would continue to look for ways to engage with Pyongyang.
Koo Byoung-Sam, a spokesman for the Ministry of Unification, noted that Kim’s comments were not particularly hostile or ock-lol compared to previous statements on North and South relations.
However, Koo said Pyongyang is closely watching the Lee administration’s North Korea policy, but that the “wall of distrust” between the two South Koreas is “very high.”
To alleviate tensions, Lee’s government stopped propaganda broadcasting of speakers along the unarmed zone and stopped the distribution of Korean leaflets from balloons to the north.
In 2024, North Korea called for peaceful unification and abolished its long-standing policy of blowing up roads and bridges that could link both countries with sourness.
In response to the road breakdown in October, South Korean forces announced they are maintaining “fully prepared in cooperation with the US” within the region south of the military demarcation line.
However, Koo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Unification, said the new South Korean government would not be very reactionary.
“The government will not be sensitive to North Korea’s responses, but will consistently strive to create inter-Korean relations of reconciliation and cooperation, and achieve peace coexistence on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
