A South Korean attempt to deescalate a widening rift with North Korea appears to be unsuccessful.
North Korea firmly denied South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s offer to send his national security adviser Chung Eui-yong and the director of the country’s National Intelligence Service as special envoys. North Korea denied Moon’s olive branch in a Wednesday message.
According to North Korean state-run media, leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, and a senior party official “flatly rejected the tactless and sinister proposal,” Reuters reported.
State-run media KCNA said Moon “greatly favors sending special envoys for ‘tiding over crises’ and raises preposterous proposals frequently, but he has to clearly understand that such a trick will no longer work on us.”
“The solution to the present crisis between the North and the South caused by the incompetence and irresponsibility of the South Korean authorities is impossible, and it can be terminated only when proper price is paid,” KCNA added.
The message denying the envoys comes after the hermit nation bombed an inter-Korean liaison office on Tuesday. South Korea’s national security council held a meeting following the building’s demolition. South Korea’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday it is continuing to monitor its northern neighbor and maintaining a “resolute military posture.”
“We are making full effort to manage the situation stably so that the situation does not escalate into a military crisis,” the ministry said. “If North Korea carries out military provocation, our military will respond with powerful force.”
During the provocations, North Korea has threatened to send troops into demilitarized areas along the border in violation of a 2018 inter-Korean military treaty. In an earlier message, North Korea threatened to “turn the front line into a fortress and further heighten the military vigilance against the South.”
Kim Yo Jong announced last week that North Korea would cut off communication with the South because of dissident groups sending leaflets and aid across the border using large balloons. South Korea said it would pursue legal action against two such groups after the North’s announcement.
Following the Tuesday bombing of the inter-Korean liaison building, North Korea said it would take a page out of the handbook of North Korean dissidents and begin to send over anti-Seoul propaganda into South Korea.
“Areas favorable for scattering leaflets against the South will open on the whole front line and our people’s drive for scattering leaflets will be guaranteed militarily and thorough-going security measures will be taken,” a spokesman for North Korea’s military said.
