Status: 09/24/2021 1:30 p.m.
After a long radio silence between South and North Korea, Seoul recently made a new attempt to break the ice. His proposal for an end-of-war declaration met with approval – but Pyongyang imposed conditions.
Communist North Korea is ready to resume talks with South Korea under certain conditions. The influential sister of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, called the renewed attempt by South Korean President Moon Jae In to declare a formal end to the Korean War an “interesting and excellent idea”.
South Korea must abandon its “hostile attitude”
At the same time, she accused South Korea of having provoked North Korea in the past and repeatedly criticized it. Kim was quoted by the state media as saying that if South Korea abandons its hostile stance, Pyongyang could have “constructive discussions” about the development of the relationship. It makes no sense to draw an official line under the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 while all “the things that might become the seeds of a war between the parties” remain, said Kim Yo Jong.
Talks also with the USA and China
At the UN General Assembly in New York, Moon had called for talks with the largely isolated neighbor North Korea to be resumed as soon as possible. He also suggested that both Korean states should meet with the USA and possibly four of them with China to officially declare the Korean War to be over after the ceasefire agreed in 1953.
The Korean peninsula is still in a state of war under international law because a peace treaty has not yet been concluded.
Declaration “a little hasty”
Shortly before, the North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Ri Thae Song had described a declaration at the end of the war as “somewhat premature”. The US could use such a statement as a cover to cover up its “hostile policies,” he was quoted as saying by the state media. While Ri’s statement focused primarily on the United States, Kim Yo Jong directed her words primarily towards South Korea.
South and North Korea reopened their official communication links in July after a long radio silence. However, North Korea stopped answering calls from South Korea in protest against joint military exercises between South Korea and the US in August. Before that, the sister of the North Korean ruler threatened that North Korea would develop its capabilities for powerful preventive strikes.
North Korea is subject to harsh international sanctions because of its nuclear weapons program. Negotiations between the USA and North Korea over its nuclear program have not made any progress for more than two and a half years.