NK dampens hope for inter-Korean talks

By Jun Ji-hye

Hopes for a resumption of inter-Korean talks took a blow Tuesday when the North called the South a destroyer of conversation.

Citing President Park Geun-hye’s mention of the talks during her Latin American tour last week, Pyongyang’s Uriminzokkiri propaganda website said, “It was shameless behavior…Nobody will be deceived by such nonsense.”

During her interview with O Estado de S. Paulo, a daily newspaper published in Brazil Friday, Park stressed the need for dialogue and cooperation between the two Koreas to relieve the pain of national division for the past 70 years and pave the way for unification.

Expectations for the talks have been growing here in the wake of Friday’s end of the Foal Eagle field exercise, which involved 3,700 U.S. troops and 200,000 South Korean troops. Washington and Seoul’s joint drills have been one of the major reasons the reclusive state continues to reject talks with the South.

National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa also called on the isolated state Monday to participate in talks between Assembly speakers of the two sides.

“If such talks are realized, the Koreas will be able to have a chance to thaw strained inter-Korean relations and resolve various problems facing the Korean Peninsula,” he said during his speech to the annual conference of Trilateral Commission, composed of global figures of financial and political sectors from North America, Europe and East Asia.

Chung also stressed that the six-party talks should be resumed to resolve matters related to the North’s nuclear ambitions.

However, the North continued to criticize the South despite the end of the drill.

“The only thought the South has is how to maximize tension and light the fuse of nuclear war,” the website said.

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye