The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un urged South Korea on Friday (24.09.2021) to abandon its “hostile policies” against Pyongyang before proposing an official end to the war between the two countries.
The conflict erupted in 1950 and ended in 1953 with a truce, but a peace agreement was never signed, so both sides have been technically at war for 70 years.
Picked up by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency, Kim Jong-un’s sister and adviser Kim Yo-jong said proposing a formal peace was an “admirable idea” but urged South Korea to abandon its hostile attitude in the first place.
Making these statements with “double standards, illogical prejudices, bad habits and hostile policies” still in force “does not make any sense,” said Kim Yo Jong, who was open to improving relations with Seoul if they changed their attitude.
The crossover of statements comes as tension on the Korean peninsula escalates. Pyongyang conducted two ballistic tests this month and Seoul announced the successful launch of ballistic missiles from a submarine as part of developing its defensive capabilities.
In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly this week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed a declaration that would put an official end to the conflict, assuring that it would foster “irreversible progress in denuclearization and lead to a time of complete peace.”
