North Korea refuses to form ties with Yoon-led South Korea: experts

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un joins a group photo session with medics of the Korean People's Army at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang, Thursday, in this photo released by the North's Korean Central Television the following day. Yonhap

Kim Yo-jong rejects South Korean president's 'audacious initiative'

By Kang Seung-woo

In a scathing statement unveiled, Friday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said Pyongyang has no intention of establishing a "significant" relationship with the new South Korean government that recently unveiled an aid-for-disarmament initiative for the northern neighbor.

Experts, meanwhile, said North Korea's fiery words reflect its intention to maintain the upper hand in affairs involving South Korea.

According to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim rejected the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's "audacious plan," which boils down to improving North Korea's economy through large-scale economic incentives and technical support programs if the reclusive country takes steps toward denuclearization. The plan was made public during Yoon's speech marking National Liberation Day, Monday.

Kim Yo-jong makes a speech during a national meeting on anti-epidemic measures held in Pyongyang, Aug. 10, in this photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency the following day. Yonhap

"It would have been more favorable for his image to shut his mouth, rather than talking nonsense as he had nothing better to say," Kim said, describing the offer as the "height of absurdity" and lambasting the South Korean president by name.

"Although he may knock on the door with a large plan in the future, his 'bold plan' does not work. We make it clear that we will not sit face to face with him."

In response, the South Korean presidential office expressed strong regret over the "rude" remarks, saying that such an attitude will not help the regime's own future and peace on the Korean Peninsula, while isolating itself from the international community.

"The point of her statement is that North Korea is set to take the initiative in inter-Korean relations, refusing to be led by South Korea," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.

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Park said Yoon's new initiative was doomed to be rejected by North Korea due to its similarity to the Lee Myung-bak administration's "Vision 3000" that sought to economically benefit the North in return for denuclearization. The North Korean regime strongly resisted that offer at the time.

"It is not certain how long the current situation will last between South and North Korea, but the North has made it clear that it will not build a meaningful relationship with the Yoon administration by rejecting the audacious plan," he said.

"At this point, no matter what initiatives will be offered by South Korea or the United States, North Korea will put its relations with them aside and put the most effort into advancing its nuclear program."

Cho Han-bum, a senior researcher of the Korea Institute for National Unification, even described her tirade as a "declaration of the end" to inter-Korean ties.

"I do not think it is a one-off condemnation," he said.

Since Yoon took office in May, the North Korean regime has had three meaningful occasions to denounce the new administration in South Korea. On the anniversary of the armistice, July 27, the North Korean leader warned that the Yoon government will be annihilated should it make any "dangerous attempt" like a preemptive strike, while his sister raised the need to take "deadly retaliatory" countermeasures over anti-communist leaflets sent from the South, Aug. 10.

"In that respect, today's statement is like North Korea's official announcement that there is no interacting with South Korea under the Yoon administration," Cho said.

President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a commencement ceremony for new police officers at the Central Police Academy in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, Friday. Yonhap

"For the time being, any attempt to improve inter-Korean ties will make little progress and it would not be easy to find a breakthrough in the stalled bilateral relations."

Cho expected North Korea to stage provocations against South Korea, which Seoul cannot effectively respond to.

"Given that her statement did not refer to the U.S., a nuclear test is off the table," he said.

"Instead, its military actions that were suspended in 2020 could be options."

In June 2020, the North Korean leader unexpectedly gave an instruction to suspend envisaged military actions against South Korea. Its previously made threats were to deploy soldiers back to the Mount Geumgang tourist area and Gaeseong Industrial Complex; rebuild sentry posts along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ); resume military exercises in border areas, including seas off its southwest coast; and help its people to send anti-South Korean leaflets across the border.

Inter-Korean ties have been deadlocked since February 2019, when the Hanoi Summit between the U.S. and North Korea ended without a deal.