Kim Jong Un orders the reopening of the hotline with the South as he condemns the “cunning” of the United States | North Korea

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State media reported that Kim Jong Un condemned a US offer of dialogue as a “facade,” but said he had ordered officials to return lines of communication with South Korea in order to “promote peace.”

Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, the North Korean leader accused the United States of pursuing a “hostile policy” against his nuclear-armed country, despite the Biden administration’s offers of negotiations without preconditions.

Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been on hold since the collapse of the Hanoi summit in February 2019 between Kim and then-President Donald Trump over what the North might be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.

Under Joe Biden, the United States has repeatedly offered to meet with representatives of North Korea anywhere and at any time without preconditions, while saying that it will seek denuclearization.

But Kim condemned the remarks as “nothing more than a facade to hide their deception and hostile actions and an extension of the hostile policy from previous administrations,” the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported.

Kim also said that South Korea “still follows the United States,” and that “mutual respect must be guaranteed and unfair opinions and double standards abolished” before the countries announce an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice. But not a peace treaty.

However, he expressed his willingness to restore the north-south phone and fax lines in early October, while urging Seoul to abandon its “dual-dealing attitude” and “hostile view”. He said inter-Korean relations were at a “crossroads of serious choices” between reconciliation and a “vicious circle of confrontation.”

Kim’s comments are an apparent attempt to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington because he wants South Korea to help him obtain relief from crippling US-led economic sanctions and other concessions.

Under the Biden administration, he said in a lengthy address to the Supreme People’s Assembly, the one-party parliament of the North, “the American military threat and hostile policy against us has not changed at all, only more subtle.”

The United States said on Wednesday that it “has no hostile intent” toward North Korea and remains open to the idea of ​​negotiations.

“We hope that the DPRK will respond positively to our communication,” a foreign ministry spokesman said, adding that Washington supports “inter-Korean cooperation” as conducive to stability on the peninsula.

North Korea has been largely waiting for its time in recent months as it evaluated the Biden government and focused on domestic issues.

Kim’s influential sister, Kim Yo Jong, has been appointed to the country’s highest government body, amid a raft of changes approved by the Supreme People’s Assembly. Her official rank has risen and fallen over time, but her new position on the State Affairs Commission is by far the highest she has ever held.

Nine members of the commission have been sacked, including one of its vice-chairmen, Pak Bong-ju, and diplomat Choi Son-hui, a rare senior woman in the North Korean hierarchy who played a key role in negotiations with the United States.

North Korea has been behind a strict self-imposed blockade since early last year to protect itself from the coronavirus pandemic, as the economy suffers as a result, and trade with key partner China has greatly diminished.

Kim’s speech was the latest in a series of measures with international repercussions this month.

This week, it tested what it said was a gliding hypersonic missile, and earlier this month announced it had successfully launched a long-range cruise missile, after a scaled back military parade.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions, and as a result it is subject to multiple international sanctions.

Diplomatic sources confirmed to AFP Wednesday that the United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on North Korea Thursday at the request of the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

North Korea has shown no willingness to give up its arsenal, which it says needs to defend itself against the US invasion.

At the United Nations General Assembly this month, South Korean President Moon Jae-in reiterated his call for a formal declaration of the end of the Korean War.

Seoul is also spending billions on military development as the two Koreas build up their weapons capabilities in what could become an arms race on the peninsula, with repercussions for Japan, neighboring China, and the wider region.

This month, the South successfully tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) for the first time, making it one of a handful of nations with advanced technology, and this week it held a launch ceremony for its third capable submarine. of carrying SLBMs.

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