Seoul welcomes Kim’s New Year addresss
SEOUL —The Republic of Korea’s presidential office on Monday welcomed the New Year address by Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as Kim showed his willingness to talk with Seoul about the DPRK’s possible participation in the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics.
Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun told a news conference that the Blue House welcomed Kim’s speech in which he stressed the need to improve inter-Korean relations and expressed his willingness to send a delegation to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The spokesman said that if the Pyeongchang Olympics are held successfully, it will contribute to peace and harmony on the Korean Peninsula as well as in Northeast Asia and the world.
The Blue House, he said, had agreed to talk with the DPRK, regardless of the timing, venue and dialogue form, if the issues are related to restoring interKorean relations and peace on the peninsula.
The spokesman said Seoul wished to find solutions with Pyongyang on the inter-Korean issues while peacefully resolving the DPRK’s nuclear issue in close cooperation with the international community.
The comments came after Kim said in his address earlier in the day that the DPRK will take necessary measures to prepare to participate in the winter sports event, including talks with the ROK about the DPRK’s participation.
The top DPRK leader said the two sides should reduce the highly tense military confrontation to create a peaceful environment for reconciliation.
The Pyeongchang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games were scheduled to kick off in February in the ROK.
Meanwhile, faced with a series of sanctions and mounting pressure on the peninsula, Kim in his speech also threatened that the DPRK is capable of striking the United States with nuclear weapons at any moment.
“The push button of nuclear weapons is on my desk,” he said.
Volatile situation
The situation on the peninsula remained volatile throughout 2017, as the DPRK test-fired several ballistic missiles, including three intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Meanwhile, the US conducted constantly large scale military drills in the ROK and in waters around the peninsula by sending aircraft carrier groups, strategic bombers, nuclear submarines, and other strategic assets there.
The United Nations has also voted four times for imposing new sanctions against the DPRK.
The ROK President Moon Jae-in said last month that annual springtime war games between the ROK and the US can be delayed to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula before the Pyeongchang games.
Moon said he had made that proposal to the US side, which had been reviewing Moon’s proposal. Moon noted that the overture depended solely on how the DPRK would respond.
If inter-Korean talks are held to discuss the DPRK’s participation in the sports event, other issues could be on the dialogue table such as the reunion of separated families between the neighbors and the halt of hostile acts near the inter-Korean border.
Moon, who took office in May, had made four proposals to the DPRK, including the reunion of the divided families between the neighbors, the DPRK’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the cease of hostile acts near the military demarcation line separating the two countries, and inter-Korean dialogues.
People in the two nations have been banned from exchanging letters and visiting each other since the 195053 Korean War ended in an armistice. The peninsula has remained technically in a state of war since then.