North Korea Rejects Seoul’s Dialogue Offer, Slams South Korea’s ‘Blind Trust’ in US

By Staff, Agencies

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has firmly dismissed the prospect of any dialogue with South Korea, criticizing the new government in Seoul for its unwavering alignment with Washington and calling rapprochement efforts meaningless.

In a statement issued Monday through the Korean Central News Agency [KCNA], Kim declared that Pyongyang had "no interest" in President Lee Jae Myung’s outreach initiatives, accusing his administration of continuing the same confrontational policies as its predecessor.

“We did not care who is elected president or what policy is being pursued in the ROK,” Kim said, using the acronym for South Korea’s official name, Republic of Korea. “Their blind trust in the ROK–US alliance and their attempt to stand in confrontation with the DPRK are little short of their predecessor’s.”

President Lee, who took office on June 4 after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted over a failed martial law attempt, had pledged to reengage North Korea diplomatically. At his inauguration, he promised to “deter North Korean provocations” while opening “communication channels” to build peace on the peninsula.

Despite early gestures—including halting anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts, banning anti-North balloon campaigns, and repatriating North Korean nationals—Kim dismissed the moves as superficial and insufficient. She called the suspension of the propaganda broadcasts “a reversible turning back of what they should not have done in the first place” and “not worthy of appreciation.”

Kim warned the South against overestimating its diplomatic gestures. “If the ROK expected it could reverse all the results it had made with a few sentimental words, nothing is more serious miscalculation than it,” she said.

She further pointed to Seoul’s continued participation in joint military drills with the US—slated for this summer—as clear evidence of ongoing hostility, framing the exercises as invasion rehearsals in Pyongyang’s eyes.

In October, North Korea revised its Constitution to label the South a “hostile state,” following Kim Jong Un’s directive to abandon the long-standing national goal of reunification.