Latest news with #inter-Korean
Hans India
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
North Korean assembly chief claims US, South Korea preparing to 'actualise' nuclear war
Geneva: The head of North Korea's legislative body on Wednesday accused the United States and South Korea of preparing to "actualise" a nuclear war, insisting that its nuclear development is a self-defence measure vital to ensuring its security against such threats. Pak In-chol, Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, made such a claim during a United Nations-led gathering of top legislators around the world in Switzerland, blaming the US and other Western countries for causing "instability and chaos" to maintain their "hegemonic position". "The advanced preparations of the United States and the ROK to actualise a nuclear war have entered the gravity stage," Pak said through an interpreter at the sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. "This impels the DPRK to take every necessary measure in response to such a geopolitical crisis. Possessing capabilities to cope proactively with various security threats ... is an issue of vital importance to our state for defending its sovereignty, security threats and territorial integrity," he said, Yonhap news agency reported. The ROK is short for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. Pak said that North Korea will never tolerate the "high-handedness, arbitrariness of the US and its following forces," and will "fully discharge its responsibility" to defend international justice. He also claimed that his country is carrying out various activities under its development road map for the "prosperity and happiness" of its people, including long-term construction plans and other measures to improve education, health care and science. "Our people are achieving miraculous successes in their struggle for overall development," Pak said. South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik attended the meeting and delivered a speech calling for communication channels between the two Koreas to be kept open even as inter-Korean relations remain frayed. No encounter between Woo and Pak took place at the meeting.
Korea Herald
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
N. Korean assembly chief claims US, S. Korea preparing to 'actualize' nuclear war
The head of North Korea's legislative body on Wednesday accused the United States and South Korea of preparing to "actualize" a nuclear war, insisting that its nuclear development is a self-defense measure vital to ensuring its security against such threats. Pak In-chol, chairman of the North's Supreme People's Assembly, made such a claim during a United Nations-led gathering of top legislators around the world in Switzerland, blaming the US and other Western countries for causing "instability and chaos" to maintain their "hegemonic position." "The advanced preparations of the United States and the ROK to actualize a nuclear war have entered the gravity stage," Pak said through an interpreter at the sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. "This impels the DPRK to take every necessary measure in response to such geopolitical crisis. Possessing capabilities to cope proactively with various security threats ... is an issue of vital importance of our state for defending its sovereignty, security threats and territorial integrity," he said. The ROK is short for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. Pak said that the North will never tolerate the "high-handedness, arbitrariness of the U.S. and its following forces," and will "fully discharge its responsibility" to defend international justice. Pak also claimed that his country is carrying out various activities under its development road map for the "prosperity and happiness" of its people, including long-term construction plans and other measures to improve education, health care and science. "Our people are achieving miraculous successes in their struggle for overall development," Pak said. South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik attended the meeting and delivered a speech calling for communication channels between the two Koreas to be kept open even as inter-Korean relations remain frayed.
Korea Herald
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Kim Yo-jong's remarks suggest N. Korea sees it has strategic advantage in nuclear diplomacy: spy agency
Recent statements by the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suggest that the regime believes it holds a strategic advantage in its stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States and inter-Korean engagement, South Korea's spy agency reportedly told lawmakers Wednesday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) shared its assessment on the remarks made by Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the ruling party's Central Committee, citing the North's enhanced nuclear capabilities and its growing military ties with Russia, according to Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the main opposition People Power Party. Kim said in a statement released by its state media Monday that Pyongyang will not sit down with Seoul for dialogue and condemned the South for "blindly adhering" to its alliance with the US. She said in a separate statement the following day that the personal ties between the leaders of the North and the US are "not bad," but ruled out talks on denuclearizing Pyongyang. "North Korea's recent statements stem from a sense of confidence that it finds itself in a much more favorable strategic environment, as its nuclear capabilities have developed and it has backing from Russia through its dispatch of troops (to Moscow)," Lee quoted the NIS as saying. But the NIS believes North Korea maintains its position that it will not return to dialogue unless it is acknowledged as a nuclear-armed state, Lee said. Lee also said that there are no reported indications that any talks are imminent or being arranged. Kim's remarks on Tuesday came after a White House official told Yonhap News Agency that US President Donald Trump remains open to engagement with the North Korean leader to achieve a "fully denuclearized" North Korea. (Yonhap)
Hans India
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
South Korea: Assembly Speaker Woo calls for dialogue channels with Korea to stay open
Geneva/ Switzerland: South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said Wednesday that communication channels between South and North Korea should be kept open even as inter-Korean relations have been frayed. Woo's remark came two days after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued a statement rejecting South Korea's outreach for talks at a time when President Lee Jae Myung has been seeking to resume inter-Korean dialogue to ease military tension and improve ties. "Despite the difficulties, channels for dialogue must remain open," Woo said during his keynote speech at the sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, a global parliamentary meeting held in Switzerland. "South and North Korea have stopped loudspeaker broadcasts, propaganda leaflets and balloons filled with waste and jamming signals, which were symbolic of confrontation and hostility." He expressed hope that "small peace" taking shape along the inter-Korean border will expand into "greater peace" on the Korean Peninsula and eventually contribute to global peace, Yonhap News Agency. Since taking office last month, the Lee administration has suspended loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and urged civic groups to halt anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns as part of efforts to mend frayed ties. In his speech, Woo also highlighted resilience in South Korea's democracy in a political crisis sparked by former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law bid in December. "South Korea has demonstrated that democracy grows stronger with the participation of sovereign citizens and the responsible role of parliament," he said. On the sidelines of the conference, Woo met separately with his Japanese and Singaporean counterparts, Fukushiro Nukaga and Seah Kian Peng, respectively, to discuss ways to boost parliamentary diplomacy and cooperation. Pak In-chol, chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, attended the conference. But an encounter between Woo and Pak apparently did not take place.
The Diplomat
a day ago
- Politics
- The Diplomat
North Korea Rejects Denuclearization Talks With US
A day after delivering a statement laying out Pyongyang's mistrust of the South Korean government – despite the change in administrations – Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the main voice on inter-Korean relations, said that the United States should change its stance on North Korea should it want to make a contact. 'If the U.S. fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-U.S. meeting will remain as a 'hope' of the U.S. side,' Kim said in the statement published on July 29 by the North's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency. (DPRK is an acronym of North Korea's official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea.) While downplaying a White House official's praise of U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts in 2018 and 2019 to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula by holding summit meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, Vietnam, and the Demilitarized Zone of the two Koreas, Kim also indicated that Pyongyang would not accept any offers of dialogue as long as Trump takes a same approach that he used last time. 'It is worth taking into account the fact that the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019,' Kim said. Two years ago, North Korea encoded the policy of building up its nuclear arsenal in its constitution through a key ruling party meeting. In doing so, North Korea made clear that its nuclear status is unchangeable and its nuclear weapons program can not be a bargaining chip at the negotiating table. This development came after Trump walked out of the Hanoi summit in 2019 without reaching a deal with Kim Jong Un. Just as the U.S. and South Korea have solidified their views that North Korea will never denuclearize due to its growing aggression in pursuing advanced nuclear weapons in the past few years, Pyongyang's mistrust over Washington and Seoul's approaches to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula was cemented due to Trump's offer to make a big deal – which is also called an 'all for all' approach – during the summit meeting with Kim in Hanoi in 2019. Also, as the U.S. and South Korea have consistently carried out extensive joint military drills, which are deemed as 'invasion rehearsal' by North Korea, Pyongyang's bid to build more advanced nuclear weapons for the safety of the Kim regime has only accelerated. 'The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state and the hard fact that its capabilities and geopolitical environment have radically changed should be a prerequisite for predicting and thinking everything in the future.' Kim Yo Jong said. 'No one can deny the reality and should not misunderstand.' In light of what Kim said in her statements published on July 28 and 29, Pyongyang clearly showed what can be considered as its minimum condition for renewing dialogue with Washington and Seoul. According to Kim, the U.S. and South Korea should recognize North Korea as a nuclear state and recalibrate their policies in order to restore inter-Korean relations and resume the deadlocked nuclear talks. In other words, the conventional approaches of the U.S. and South Korea to entice North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons should be scrapped preemptively. 'Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state, which was established along with the existence of a powerful nuclear deterrent and fixed by the supreme law reflecting the unanimous will of all the DPRK people, will be thoroughly rejected,' Kim said. Unlike her belligerent statement toward Seoul, in which she said Pyongyang had 'no interest' in diplomacy, Kim slightly opened the possibility of the North Korean leader meeting with Trump in the future. She said that 'the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present U.S. president is not bad.' However, she also clearly described denuclearization as a pointless concept that can be interpreted as 'nothing.' It is uncertain whether Trump can recalibrate U.S. policy on North Korea by scrapping the decades-old goal of the denuclearization of North Korea and instead pursuing a nuclear freeze or arms control in talks with Pyongyang. According to policymakers and government officials in Washington, the U.S. strategic goal – meaning the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula – will not change as long as it pursues nonproliferation. Also, even though Trump once called North Korea 'a nuclear power,' that does not imply the possibility of the U.S. government firmly recognizing North Korea as a legitimate nuclear state. Kang Yoo-jeong, a spokesperson of the South Korean Presidential Office, reiterated Seoul's stance to build a Korean Peninsula where the two Koreas have no reason to fight each other during her press briefing on Tuesday. Highlighting the KCNA's publication of Kim's statements two days in a row, Kang also mentioned that the Presidential Office views the restoration of bilateral trust between the two Koreas as the priority to handle, considering Kim's hostile remarks toward the Lee government.
