DPRK officials refuse to sit down with ROK peers as tensions rise

PYONGYANG/SEOUL－A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Wednesday that his government would not sit together with the authorities of the Republic of Korea and "there will be neither exchange nor cooperation in the future".

"We have no idea to sit together with the authorities of the south side who evoke only disgust and nasty feelings," Jang Kum-chol, director of the united front department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"That's why we began removing means for contact between the north and the south."

Pyongyang cut off all communication lines with Seoul a week ago and blew up the joint liaison office building in the Kaesong Industrial Zone near the border on Tuesday in protest against the scattering of anti-DPRK leaflets by defectors in the ROK.

The office was established in September 2018 as part of the Panmunjom Declaration signed by the two heads of state during the first summit between top DPRK leader Kim Jongun and ROK President Moon Jae-in on April 27, 2018.

In a related development, Pyongyang on Wednesday "flatly" rejected a plea from Seoul to send special envoys to the DPRK to ease the tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"Upon the urgent message sent by the south side in a hurry, Kim Yo-jong, first vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, made known the stand that we flatly reject the tactless and sinister proposal," the KCNA said.

Seoul expresses regret

Later on Wednesday, Yoon Do-han, senior public communication secretary for Moon, confirmed in a statement that Pyongyang unilaterally disclosed Seoul's closed-door proposal to dispatch special envoys to the DPRK.

Yoon expressed strong regret over the disclosure, calling it an "unprecedentedly unreasonable act" that deliberately distorts the purpose of the proposal, according to the ROK's presidential Blue House.

The senior secretary said it was a "senseless act" for Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of Kim Jong-un, to disparage in a very rude tone the speech made earlier this week by Moon to resolve inter-Korean issues through communication and cooperation.

Yoon added that this would fundamentally harm mutual trust between leaders of the two neighbors, warning that the country would no longer tolerate any more of the DPRK's indiscreet rhetoric and actions.

Earlier in the day, ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who is in charge of inter-Korean affairs, offered to resign to take responsibility for the worsened relations between the two countries. He took office in April last year.

Also on Wednesday, the DPRK's army said it would redeploy soldiers to the previously-demilitarized Kaesong Industrial Zone and the Mount Kumgang areas soon.

The army was making a clearer stand on more detailed military action plans outlined on Tuesday so as to provide a military guarantee for the measures taken by the party and the government, an unnamed spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army was quoted by KCNA as saying in a statement.

Moreover, the artillery units deployed on the whole front line will reinforce those on combat duty and will resume all kinds of regular military exercises in the areas close to the border.

Xinhua