North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s influential sister said on Thursday that Pyongyang never dismantled its propaganda loudspeakers and has no plans to do so, dismissing South Korea’s belief in a positive response to its peace overtures as a mere “pipedream”.
Kim Yo Jong, who is a senior official in the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, also said a change made to the plan for annual joint military drills by South Korea and the United States was a “futile” move that does not change the allies’ hostile intent.
Kim, who officials and analysts believe speaks for her brother, has in recent weeks rebuffed moves taken by South Korea’s new liberal government aimed at easing tension between the two Koreas.
Policy Cannot Change
“I am confident that Seoul’s policy towards the DPRK remains unchanged and can never change,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA official news agency. DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
South Korea’s military has said it detected moves by the North’s military to dismantle some propaganda loudspeakers directed at the South, following similar moves by the South.
There has been cautious optimism in the South that the North may be responding positively to a policy by President Lee Jae Myung to engage Pyongyang after a period of cross-border tension and even show willingness to return to dialogue.
Kim Yo Jong also said North Korea will not be sitting down with the United States for dialogue, saying reports raising the possibilities of such a development were “false suppositions”.
Pyongyang-Moscow Talks
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Kim Jong Un and updated him on planned talks the Russian leader will hold with US President Donald Trump in Alaska this week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
North Korea’s state news agency KCNA later reported the two leaders’ call without mentioning the meeting scheduled on Friday between Putin and Trump.
Kim and Putin discussed the development in the countries’ ties under a strategic partnership agreement signed last year “confirming their will to strengthen cooperation in the future,” KCNA said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
