South Korea's Lee orders partial phased implementation of existing North Korea pacts
Lee did not specify which agreements he was referring to, but the president said on Friday that Seoul intends to restore a 2018 agreement that has since fallen apart to suspend some military activity along the border with North Korea.
"Relations between South and North Korea are crucial in order to protect the national interests of South Korea and expand the space to operate diplomatically in the face of rapidly changing external conditions," Lee said during a cabinet meeting on Monday.
"Relevant ministries, please prepare for phased implementation of existing inter-Korean agreements starting from wherever possible."
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Straits Times
12 hours ago
- Straits Times
North Korea dismisses South Korean president's 'gibberish' ahead of US summit
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, arrives at the Vostochny Сosmodrome before a meeting of Russia's President Vladimir Putin with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, September 13, 2023. Sputnik/Vladimir Smirnov/Pool/File Photo SEOUL/WASHINGTON - North Korea is stepping up criticism of South Korea's new President Lee Jae Myung as he prepares for his first summit with U.S President Donald Trump, calling Lee's efforts to engage with Pyongyang a "pipedream". Since taking office in a snap election in June, the liberal Lee has taken steps to lower tensions with the nuclear-armed North, and the issue is one where he is expected to find common ground with Trump, who still boasts of his historic summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But North Korea's envoys have yet to accept any of Trump's latest letters, and Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, has issued a steady stream of dismissive statements rejecting and ridiculing Lee's overtures. "Lee Jae Myung is not the sort of man who will change the course of history," she told a gathering of North Korean diplomats, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday. She called South Korea a "faithful dog" of Washington, accused Lee of speaking gibberish, and said his government maintains a "stinky confrontational in a wrapper of peace". Kim said the Lee administration is pursuing a two-faced policy of engagement as well as threatening joint military drills with the United States, which bases around 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War. Leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his diplomats to take "preemptive counteraction" against enemy states, the KCNA report said, without providing details. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Emergency broadcast system to alert S'pore public to disasters via their mobile phones: Edwin Tong Singapore New annual course will groom future leaders of Singapore's Chinese community Singapore Grab users in Singapore shocked by fares of over $1,000 due to display glitch Singapore Singapore indie cinema The Projector owes over $1.2m to creditors Life Five things to do at Singapore Night Festival – from kampung chilling to spotting luminous crabs Asia Calls to cut ties: Malaysia flag furore tests PH-BN relations Singapore Proposals sought to develop Changi East Urban District next to T5 Business New CDC job-matching drive may bring overlooked front-line roles closer to applicants: Experts In response to her statement, South Korea's presidential office said the administration would open a new era for joint growth with North Korea, and its recent measures were meant for the stability and prosperity of both Koreas. South Korea and its ally the United States kicked off joint military drills this week, including testing an upgraded response to heightened North Korean nuclear threats. Earlier this week, Kim Jong Un said that the joint U.S.- South Korea drills were an "obvious expression of their will to provoke war" and that his country needed to rapidly expand its nuclear armament. North Korea has surged ahead with more and bigger ballistic missiles, expanded its nuclear weapons facilities, and gained new support from its neighbours. "The North Korean leader sees little need to engage with Washington since he is receiving far more substantial benefits from Russia with fewer conditions than he could attain from the United States," said Bruce Klingner, a former U.S. intelligence analyst now with the Mansfield Foundation. Still, Kim could eventually respond to Trump in the hopes of providing the American president the "illusion of success though it would do nothing to actually reduce the North Korean threat to the U.S. and its allies," he said. North Korea in recent years has also changed its policy toward the South, dismissing the idea of peaceful unification and called Seoul a main enemy. Lee this week ordered his cabinet to prepare a partial step-by-step implementation of existing agreements with North Korea, and South Korea has begun removing loudspeakers that had been blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the border. "There's nothing new here and it's not going to get them anywhere," said Jenny Town, managing director Washington-based North Korea project 38 North. If anything of substance is discussed at the summit it will likely be the joint drills, which Trump scaled back during his first term, Town said. REUTERS
AsiaOne
19 hours ago
- AsiaOne
North Korea's Kim Yo-jong says South Korea has 'dual personality' over military drills, Asia News
SEOUL — North Korea's Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, said South Korea and its President Lee Jae-myung had a "dual personality" by talking about wanting to pursue peace while continuing joint military drills with the US, state media KCNA said on Wednesday (Aug 20). South Korea and its ally the United States kicked off joint military drills this week, including testing an upgraded response to heightened North Korean nuclear threats. Pyongyang regularly criticises such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive. Since entering office in June, Lee's government has sought to improve relations between the neighbours which are still technically at war following their 1950-1953 conflict, though top North Korean officials have been quoted by state media dismissing overtures made by the South's liberal president. Lee this week ordered his cabinet to prepare a partial step-by-step implementation of existing agreements with North Korea, and South Korea has begun removing loudspeakers that had been blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the border. "Lee Jae-myung is not that man to change this flow of history" of confrontational ambition, Kim said, adding "the (South Korean) government continues to speak rambling pretence about peace and improving relations in order to lay the blame on us for inter-Korean relations never returning again," according to KCNA. The remarks follow North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's statements, carried by KCNA on Tuesday, which called US-South Korea military exercises an "obvious expression of their will to provoke war" and underscored his country's need to rapidly expand its nuclear armament. [[nid:721457]]
CNA
20 hours ago
- CNA
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong says South Korea has 'dual personality' over military drills
SEOUL: North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said South Korea and its President Lee Jae Myung had a "dual personality" by talking about wanting to pursue peace while continuing joint military drills with the US, state media KCNA said on Wednesday (Aug 20). South Korea and its ally, the United States, kicked off joint military drills this week, including testing an upgraded response to heightened North Korean nuclear threats. Pyongyang regularly criticises such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive. Since entering office in June, Lee's government has sought to improve relations between the neighbours which are still technically at war following their 1950 to 1953 conflict, though top North Korean officials have been quoted by state media dismissing overtures made by the South's liberal president. Lee this week ordered his cabinet to prepare a partial step-by-step implementation of existing agreements with North Korea, and South Korea has begun removing loudspeakers that had been blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the border. " Lee Jae Myung is not that man to change this flow of history", of confrontational ambition, Kim said, adding "the (South Korean) government continues to speak rambling pretence about peace and improving relations in order to lay the blame on us for inter-Korean relations never returning again", according to KCNA. The remarks follow North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's statements, carried by KCNA on Tuesday, which called US-South Korea military exercises an "obvious expression of their will to provoke war" and underscored his country's need to rapidly expand its nuclear armament.
