The very influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un categorically rejected, on Friday August 19, an offer of economic aid made by the South Korean government.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol this week offered North Korea a food, energy and infrastructure aid package if it abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
Analysts said the chances of Pyongyang accepting the offer, first made in May by Mr Yoon during his inaugural speech, were slim, as North Korea has long said it would never agree to such a compromise. This offer is a “peak of absurdity”reacted Friday Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Kim Jong-un.
“Simple and childish”
“When you think that the plan to trade ‘economic cooperation’ for our honor, [nos] nuclear weapons, is Yoon’s big dream, hope and plan, we realize that it is really simple and yet childish”she said, quoted by the official North Korean agency KCNA. “It is clear that we are not going to sit facing him”added Kim Yo-jong.
North Korea has carried out a record series of weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time since 2017. Washington and South Korean officials have repeatedly warned that Pyongyang is preparing to resume nuclear testing.