North Korea has rejected South Korea’s “tactless and sinister” proposal to send special envoys to ease soaring tensions between the two nations, and has said that it would redeploy troops to the demilitarized border areas.
In recent weeks, friction between the two Koreas has come to a head over defector activity, stalling any reconciliation efforts. Just yesterday, Pyongyang demolished a joint liaison office that had been set up in the border town of Kaesong in 2018 as part of the peace agreements. North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met at least three times that year, ushering in hopes of the two nations refining their relationship. However, relations have soured since then.
Also read: North Korea Severs All Communication Channels With “Enemy” South
A commentary carried by state news outlet KCNA, said that the South, like a “mongrel dog” kept “bragging and bluffing, rattling the dialogue partner and stoking a confrontational atmosphere”, and warned that Tuesday’s explosion in the Kaesong Industrial Zone could be a prelude to a “total catastrophe” in North-South relations.
Meanwhile, Kim Yo-jong, sister and key advisor to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un criticized the South’s Moon Jae-in for failing to implement any of the 2018 agreements, adding that he “put his neck into the noose of pro-US flunkeyism”.
Also read: Kim Yo-jong, Sister and Key Advisor To Kim Jong-un, Issues Military Threat to South Korea
On Monday, President Moon had offered to send his national security adviser Chung Eui-yong and spy chief Suh Hoon as special envoys to resolve tensions, and urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue. The South’s handling of propaganda spreading activists and defectors has irked the North, with Ms. Kim claiming that South Korea has “eroded the respect for the other side”, and has shown “no admittance of what was done wrong, nor any repentance, to say nothing of any measures”. She ridiculed Moon’s “preposterous” proposal, adding: “The solution to the present crisis between the North and the South caused by the incompetence and irresponsibility of the South Korean authorities is impossible and it can be terminated only when the proper price is paid”.
In response, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Wednesday that the country would no longer accept unreasonable behavior by Pyongyang, and that the “rude and senseless criticism” of President Moon fundamentally damaged the trust built by the two leaders.
North Korea has also threatened to dispatch troops to the border, where the two countries previously carried out joint economic projects. A spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) stated that police posts will be reinstalled at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), and artillery units near the western sea border will be reinforced. He added that the North will also start sending anti-Seoul leaflets across the border. South Korea’s defense ministry has urged Pyongyang to abide by a 2018 military pact, under which both sides agree to cease “all hostile acts” along the DMZ.
The increasing inter-Korean tensions are not just a setback for reconciliation between the two rivals, but will also further complicate the already stalled US-led efforts to persuade the North to denuclearize.
Image Source: Business Insider/Getty Images