N.Korea says it will never deal with S.Korea’s ‘audacious’ economic plan
2022.08.19 01:18
FILE PHOTO: Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un attends wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam March 2, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/Pool/File Photo
By Joori Roh
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Friday the country will never deal with an “audacious” South Korean initiative, which would boost the North’s economy in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol said in May South Korea was “prepared to work with the international community to present an audacious plan that will vastly strengthen North Korea’s economy and improve the quality of life for its people.”
Marking his 100th day in office, Yoon on Wednesday repeated his willingness to provide phased economic aid to North Korea if it ended nuclear weapons development and began denuclearisation.
Kim Yo Jong said in a KCNA statement that such a plan was ignorant and “the height of folly far from realisation”, adding that the premise of “if the North Korea take denuclearisation measures” itself is wrong.
“Thinking that the idea of exchanging our national core nuclear with ‘economic cooperation’ is a dream, hope and initiative of Yoon Suk-yeol, I cannot help but think he is really innocent and young,” she added.
“If the ‘audacious initiative’ doesn’t work, I don’t know with what kind of wild plan he will knock on our door, but I am making it clear that we will never deal with it.”
