DPRK offers to restore inter-Korean hotline

PYONGYANG－Kim Jong-un, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, expressed his willingness to restore inter-Korean hotlines in the coming days if Seoul changes its confrontational attitude toward Pyongyang, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said on Thursday.

In a speech on the second day of a session of the Supreme People's Assembly on Wednesday, Kim "expressed the intention to see to it that the North-South communication lines that had been cut off due to the deteriorated inter-Korean relations are restored from early October," the KCNA said.

But it "depends on the attitude of the South Korean authorities whether the inter-Korean relations would be restored and develop onto a new stage or continue to keep the present state of worsening", Kim was quoted as saying.

Kim also said the US' hostile policy toward Pyongyang has not changed at all since Joe Biden took office as US president early this year and Washington's offer to hold talks without preconditions is nothing but "a petty trick for... hiding its hostile acts".

He added: "The US remains utterly unchanged in posing military threats and pursuing a hostile policy toward (Pyongyang) but employs more cunning ways and methods in doing so."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday that under the current circumstances, the key to breaking the stalemate between the DPRK and the US for dialogue to resume is that the latter must take seriously the DPRK's legitimate concerns in order to resolve them.

"The US should avoid chanting empty slogans of dialogue," she said.

It was imperative to invoke the rollback terms of the UN Security Council's DPRK-related resolutions as soon as possible and make the necessary adjustments to relevant sanctions, especially those relating to provisions on humanitarian and livelihood aspects, the spokeswoman told a daily news briefing.

"It is conducive to resuming the dialogue and maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and is in line with the spirit of the resolutions," she added.

Kim said the restoration in early October of cross-border hotlines, which have been largely dormant for more than a year, would realize the Korean people's wishes for peace between the two neighbors.

In response, the ROK's Unification Ministry said it will prepare for the restoration of the hotlines, and added they are needed to resolve the many pressing issues.

Zhao Jia in Beijing contributed to this story.

Agencies - Xinhua