SEOUL, Korea, Republic of – Influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Friday that her country was ready to resume talks with South Korea if the conditions were right, indicating that she wanted Seoul to persuade Washington to relax crippling economic sanctions.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement came days after North Korea carried out its first missile tests in six months, which some experts said were aimed at showing that it would continue to bolster its arsenal of weapons if sanctions were imposed. orchestrated by the United States continue while nuclear diplomacy remains at a standstill.
Kim Yo Jong proposed the talks while mentioning South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s call, made in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, for a political declaration ending the war in Korea from 1950-1953 as a means of bringing peace to the peninsula.
“To smile with a forced smile, to read the declaration of the end of the war, and to have their picture taken can be essential for someone, but I think that it would not hold water and would not change a thing, account given existing inequalities, serious contradictions and hostilities, ”Kim Yo Jong said in a statement released by state media.
The leader’s sister said North Korea was ready to engage in “constructive” talks with South Korea to discuss how to improve and mend the strained ties if the South stops provoking the North with disagreements. hostile policies, far-fetched claims and double-dealing.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it was carefully considering Kim Yo Jong’s statement. He said South Korea will continue its efforts to restore relations with North Korea.
Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University in South Korea, said North Korea is exerting indirect pressure on Seoul to try to hold talks on easing sanctions then that she is pushing for the declaration of the end of the war.
“It is as if North Korea is saying that it would welcome talks on the declaration of end of war if the lifting of sanctions can also be discussed,” Nam said.
US-led sanctions were stepped up following North Korea’s provocative series of nuclear and missile tests in 2016 and 2017, and Kim Jong Un claimed that the sanctions, the coronavirus pandemic and natural disasters were the source of the “worst” crisis in North Korea.
Earlier this year, he warned he would expand the country’s nuclear arsenal if the United States refused to abandon its “hostile policy” towards North Korea, an apparent reference to sanctions.
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