Eschew military drills with US, North tells South after cancelling Korean talks

Just a short-lived bonhomie? North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone on April 27.

Just a short-lived bonhomie? North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone on April 27.   | Photo Credit: AP

Pyongyang says apart from the exercises, Seoul lets “human scum hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of North Korea.”

North Korea has urged South Korea to stop its joint military drills with the United States and stop using northern defectors to attack Pyongyang, so that inter-Korean talks could be resumed.

Pyongyang suspended inter-Korean talks on Wednesday to protest a two-week-long large-scale US-South Korea air drill which will last until May 25.

North deems this a threat

Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country of North Korea, was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying that South Korean authorities launched “the extremely adventurous 2018 Max Thunder joint air combat exercises with the US which was aimed at precision strike on key strategic objects of the North Korea and the seizure of the air control.”

“On the other hand, they let human scum hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of North Korea and its social system and speak ill of the historic Panmunjom Declaration at the ‘National Assembly’,” he said, in reference to the appearance of northern defectors at the South Korean Parliament, Xinhua reported on Friday.

North Korea took “a resolute step” to postpone the North-South high-level talks indefinitely until the South Korean authorities “take a responsible measure, and notified it to them and made this public through a KCNA report,” he said.

Blames talks cancellation on Seoul

Holding South Korea completely responsible for the suspension of inter-Korean talks, he also blamed Seoul for expressing regret over Pyongyang’s decision to suspend the talks, “far from thinking over the meaning of the step taken by North Korea and taking necessary follow-up measures.”

“All the confrontation rackets kicked up by them have had something in common with the nature of the conservative regime which had been engaged in inciting hostility and division in the past,” said the North Korean official in charge of several rounds of inter-Korean talks at Panmunjom.

Mr. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met on April 27 for a historic summit at Panmunjom and issued a joint declaration calling for improving inter-Korean relations and working for complete denuclearisation of the peninsula. South Korea believes North Korea remains committed to improving relations despite strongly criticizing Seoul over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills and saying it will not return to inter-Korean talks unless its grievances are resolved.

Seoul expects Pyongyang to abide by deal

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Baek Tae-hyun said on Friday that Seoul expected Pyongyang to faithfully abide by the agreements between Mr. Kim and Mr. Moon.