North Korea's Kim lauds South's hospitality
SEOUL (AFP/Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has praised the welcome the South gave his sister and said it was important to build on the Olympics-driven momentum for dialogue on the divided peninsula.
Kim's younger sister Kim Yo Jong – one of his closest confidantes – was part of the nuclear-armed North's diplomatic delegation to the Games that made worldwide headlines.
Kim Jong Un said it is important to boost the “warm climate of reconciliation and dialogue” after meeting with the high-level delegation that returned to the North after their three-day visit in the South for the Winter Olympics, the North’s state media said on Tuesday.
Kim Jong Un also expressed “satisfaction” over their visit and said efforts made by Seoul to prioritize their visit were “very impressive” including their “sincere efforts” for which he gave his gratitude, the Korean Central News Agency said.
As with North Korean media reports over the weekend, there was again no mention of the summit offer given to South Korean Moon Jae-in from Kim Jong Un via his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, who was part of the delegation.
Kim Yo Jong delivered a letter from her brother at a visit to the South’s presidential Blue House on Saturday, asking Moon to visit “at his earliest convenience” to which Moon replied both Koreas should try to make conditions that would make the visit possible.
Talk of an inter-Korean summit, which would be the first since 2007 if it happened, come after months of tension between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
In Tuesday’s report, Kim Jong Un gave “important instructions” for possible measures to maintain the atmosphere of conciliation and dialogue without offering more details.
Seoul said on Monday it would push ahead with its plans for reunions of family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in order to sustain the dialogue prompted by the North Korean delegation’s visit.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday said that he and South Korean President Moon Jaein had agreed that it was necessary to keep up maximum pressure on North Korea.