The powerful sister of North Korea’s leader has said that Seoul must show “utmost respect” to mend ties, after Pyongyang denied responsibility for a Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) mine blast that wounded South Korean soldiers.
North Korea has rejected claims it was behind the explosion that injured three soldiers last month inside the DMZ, the heavily mined buffer area that has divided the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice.
A joint Seoul-United Nations Command investigation concluded the blast was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South Korean side of the border.
South Korea’s military demanded an official apology last week, accusing Pyongyang of “a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement”, while Seoul’s civilian leadership called for the North to return to dialogue.
“If they (Seoul) really want to reverse the relations between the DPRK and the ROK, they should be conscious of their rival’s feelings in every word and action and show their utmost respect, solicitude and sincerity before anything,” North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong said yesterday, using the two countries’ official acronyms.
On Wednesday, a government report revealed Seoul had secured a UN sanctions exemption to send medical equipment next month to North Korea, which has long suffered poor healthcare infrastructure.
Analysts say the move would allow Seoul to provide North Korea with humanitarian aid including ambulances and medical sterilisation tools.
The North has long been criticised for prioritising the military over adequately providing for its people.
Elizabeth Salmon, UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said this year that food shortages remained a key humanitarian concern in the country.
Government sources said the aid programme is worth around 9.3 billion won (RM28.3mil) in total.
But Yo-jong, whose brother is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said the aid was Seoul’s attempt to pivot from what she called a “self-orchestrated farce” that had failed to get the response it was seeking.
“There are two doubts whether they are political immature guys or truly born idiots who can never be remodelled,” she said.
North Korea’s military has placed mines and built anti-tank barriers along the frontier as part of efforts to permanently seal it off following Jong-un’s designation of South Korea as his country’s “principal enemy” in 2024.
The mines responsible for the blast last month were believed to have been laid over a year ago as part of Pyongyang’s border fortification work, according to South Korea’s defence minister Kang Shin-chul. — AFP
