- Melissa Chu
- BBC News
3 hours ago
Kim made fun of Seoul’s show
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has rejected an offer from South Korea of economic aid in exchange for denuclearization steps, calling the offer “the height of absurdity.”
“No one would trade their fate for cornbread,” she said in a statement.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol repeated his proposal for a plan he first proposed in May, but Kim said Friday that Yun should “keep his mouth shut”, describing his offer as “naive and childish”.
The office of the Korean President expressed his regret for what he described as her “rude remarks”, but stressed that the offer still stands, in response to Kim’s statement, which was published by the official news agency of North Korea, Friday.
“North Korea’s position is in no way conducive to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, and does not serve its future,” Seoul’s response said.
President Yun said in May that he was ready to present a bold plan to boost North Korea’s economy and improve the quality of life for its residents.
The Korean president was speaking at a press conference marking the 100th anniversary of his assumption of power on Wednesday, when he reiterated his readiness to provide economic aid in stages to North Korea, in case the latter stops developing nuclear weapons and takes steps towards denuclearization.
Kim’s comments Friday were the first reaction of a high-ranking North Korean official to Yun’s plan.
She said she did not know what Yoon had in mind if his plan failed, but emphasized that Pyongyang would not deal with the matter.
The Korean Peninsula was divided between North and South following the end of World War II in 1945. The two countries have been at war since the end of their conflict, with the signing of an armistice in 1953.
While South Korea’s economy has boomed in the past few decades, the communist North has suffered from food crises and international sanctions over its nuclear program.
The UN Special Commissioner for Human Rights in North Korea, Thomas Oje Quintana, had said that the North Koreans are struggling hard to live in dignity, and are groaning under the pressure of economic sanctions and the spread of Covid, and the restriction of imports that has led to food shortages in the country.
Although the North Korean president admitted that his country suffers from food shortages, he refused to back down from his country’s nuclear program.
Pyongyang has conducted regular nuclear tests over the past years, and Kim said last month that his country was ready for a military confrontation with the United States, ready to mobilize its nuclear forces.
Kim, born in 1987, is the younger sister of President Kim, his closest ally among his brothers, and the most likely candidate to succeed him.
She has been working in the propaganda department since 2014, in order to maintain a positive image of her brother, and has issued strongly worded statements in this context once morest North Korea and its allies. Addressing the United States last year, she said it should “stop smelling bad,” referring to its joint military exercises with Seoul.
