(SEOUL) The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday rejected an offer of economic aid in exchange for denuclearization formulated by the South Korean government, calling it “the height of absurdity”.
Updated yesterday at 11:23 p.m.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol this week offered North Korea a food, energy and infrastructure aid package if it abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
Analysts said the chances of Pyongyang accepting the offer, first made in May by Yoon during his inaugural speech, were slim, after North Korea had long said it would never agree to such a deal.
This offer is a “peak of absurdity”, reacted Friday Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong-un.
“When you think that the plan to trade ‘economic cooperation’ for our honor, (our) nuclear weapons, is Yoon’s big dream, hope and plan, you realize that it is really simple and yet childish,” she said, as quoted by the official KCNA news agency.
“It is clear that we are not going to sit face to face with him,” she added, before accusing the South of recycling proposals already rejected by the North. “No one trades their destiny for corn cakes,” she said.
South Korea’s presidential office expressed “deep regret” over Kim Yo Jong’s “derogatory” statements, but added that the offer of economic aid still stands.
“Such an attitude on the part of North Korea contributes neither to the peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula, nor to its own future. It only promotes its isolation on the international stage,” the office said.
“Ready to deploy”
Last week, Pyongyang threatened “deadly” retaliation against South Korea, which it holds responsible for a recent outbreak of COVID-19 in its territory.
The threat came as Kim Jong-un declared in July that his country was “ready to deploy” its nuclear deterrent in the event of a military confrontation 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 “clearly reaffirm” that Pyongyang will never give up nuclear weapons.
As a result, the policies of Mr. Yoon’s government will inevitably require a “fundamental overhaul”, observes Mr. Cheong.
North Korea has carried out a record series of weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time since 2017.
Washington and South Korean officials have repeatedly warned that the North is preparing to resume nuclear testing.