The very influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un categorically rejected an offer of economic aid from the South Korean government on Friday, August 19.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol this week offered North Korea an aid package covering food, energy and infrastructure should it abandon its nuclear weapons program.
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Analysts said the chances of Pyongyang accepting the offer, first made by Mr Yoon during his inaugural address in May, are slim as North Korea has long said it would never agree to such a compromise. Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un’s sister, responded on Friday that this offer was a “summit of absurdity”.
“Simple and childish”
“If you think that the plan to swap ‘economic cooperation’ to our honor, [nos] Nuclear weapons are Yoon’s big dream, hope and plan, we realize it’s really simple and still childish,” she said, as quoted by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA. “Of course we won’t sit across from him,” Kim Yo-jong added.
South Korea’s presidential office expressed “deep regret” over Kim Yo-jong’s “derogatory” remarks, but added that the offer of economic aid is pending. “Such an attitude by North Korea does not contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula, nor to its own future. It only furthers his isolation on the international stage,” the bureau said.
North Korea has conducted a record series of weapons tests this year, including firing an ICBM for the first time since 2017. Washington and South Korea officials have repeatedly warned that Pyongyang is preparing to resume nuclear tests.
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