North Korea says hope is alive for peace summit with South Korea
North Korea is willing to
consider another summit with South Korea if mutual respect between
the neighbors can be assured, state news agency KCNA said on Saturday, citing
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North's leader Kim Jong Un.
South Korea welcomed the prospect
on Sunday, with the Unification Ministry saying it expected to swiftly engage
in talks with Pyongyang, while urging the need to restore a hotline link
between the two.
Kim's comment came after the
North urged the United States and South Korea last week to abandon what it
called their hostile policy and double standards towards it, if formal talks
are to be held on ending the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea's pursuit of nuclear
weapons has complicated the question of a formal end to the war, which halted
with an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, leaving US-led UN forces
technically still at war with the North.
"I think that only when impartiality
and the attitude of respecting each other are maintained, can there be smooth
understanding between the north and the south," said Kim Yo Jong, who is a
powerful confidante of her brother.
Constructive discussions offer a
chance for solutions on issues such as "the re-establishment of the
north-south joint liaison office and the north-south summit, to say nothing of
the timely declaration of the significant termination of the war", Kim
said.
Speaking on Tuesday to the UN
General Assembly, South Korean President Moon Jae-in had repeated a call for a
formal end to the war, but later said time was running out for such progress
before his term ends in May.
North Korea has sought an end to
the war for decades, but the United States has been reluctant to agree, unless
it gives up nuclear weapons.
In Saturday's remarks, Kim said
she noted with interest the intense discussion in the South over the renewed
prospect of a formal declaration.
"I felt that the atmosphere
of the South Korean public desiring to recover the inter-Korean relations from
a deadlock and achieve peaceful stability as soon as possible is irresistibly
strong," she said. "We, too, have the same desire."
On Sunday, responding to the
remarks, Seoul's unification ministry said in a statement, "For these
discussions, the inter-Korean communication line must first be restored
swiftly, as smooth and stable communication is important."
The hotline, maintained by South
Korea's military to handle relations with Pyongyang, has not operated since
August, as North Korea stopped answering calls.
Talks with the United States have
been stalled since 2019, when expectations had grown for a declaration on
ending the war, even if not an actual treaty, ahead of a historic
summit of former US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
But that possibility, and the
momentum the leaders generated over three meetings, came to nothing.
In his own UN speech, US
President Joe Biden said he wanted "sustained diplomacy" to resolve
the crisis over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
North Korea has rejected US
overtures on dialogue and the head of the UN atomic watchdog said this week its
nuclear program was going "full steam ahead".
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