We Have No Interest in Dialogue with South Korea

TEHRAN (Defapress) - While Seoul, under its new left-leaning President Lee Jae-myung, has made efforts to improve relations, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, has dismissed any possibility of talks with South Korea.

In a statement released on Monday through North Korea’s state media, Kim Yo Jong downplayed Lee Jae-myung’s efforts to mend ties with Pyongyang, including halting loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the tense inter-Korean border. Kim, who oversees propaganda operations for the Workers' Party of Korea, described Lee’s decision to stop the broadcasts as a "reversible retreat" from something that "should never have happened in the first place."

She added that if South Korea believes it can undo the consequences of its past actions with a few emotional words, it is making a "huge mistake." Kim stated that the Lee administration’s "blind trust" in its security alliance with the U.S. and its "confrontational stance" toward Pyongyang are no different from the policies of the previous conservative government under Yoon Suk-yeol.

The influential sister of North Korea’s ruler made it clear that, regardless of the policies or proposals coming from Seoul, North Korea has no interest in them and sees no reason to meet or engage in dialogue with South Korea.

Lee Jae-myung, who came to power last month after Yoon Suk-yeol was ousted following a short-lived declaration of martial law, has expressed his desire to improve relations between the two Koreas, which technically remain at war since the 1950-1953 conflict. Lee’s Democratic Party and its predecessors have traditionally advocated for closer ties with North Korea.