Kim spurns Moon invitation to South
SEOUL: Blaming its rival for a recent chill in relations, North Korea yesterday said its leader turned down an invitation by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to participate in a regional summit next week.
The announcement continued North Korea’s current hardball approach with Washington and Seoul following months of unprecedented summitry as they near an end-of-year deadline issued by the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, for the US to salvage fragile nuclear talks.
North Korean officials in recent weeks have insisted that Mr Kim has no interest in another summit with US President Donald Trump unless the North gets something substantial in return. They have also called for the United States to end “hostile’’ policies against the North, apparently referring to its enforcement of sanctions and pressure, and permanently halt joint military exercises with the South for any progress in negotiations.
The statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said there is no reason for Mr Kim to visit the South under “beclouded air’’ and accused Mr Moon’s government of failing to uphold agreements reached between the leaders in three summits last year.
KCNA said Mr Moon’s office sent a letter on Nov 5 inviting Mr Kim to attend a summit Mr Moon is hosting in the southern city of Busan for Southeast Asian leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
The agency said South Korea asked the North to send a special envoy to the meetings if Mr Kim couldn’t come.
The statement repeated demands that South Korea break away from the US, accusing the Moon government of harming inter-Korean cooperation with its continued dependence on Washington.
“If [South Korean officials] think they can easily turn around the present serious situation with just a letter, they would be seriously mistaken,’’ the statement said.
“We will never follow without reason the impure attempt of [the South Korean] side to give impression that dialogue is going on between the top leaders ... although no settlement of the fundamental issues between both sides is being made.’’
In what was seen as a concession to former Maoists, Mr Oli agreed to allow former rebel chief Prachanda to be the executive chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, a party spokesman said. Prachanda has been pressing Mr Oli to let him take over as prime minister before his term expired in 2022 under a power sharing deal between the two leaders.
Independent analysts allowing Prachanda to run the party will let Mr Oli complete his term as prime minister.
Mr Oli during his first term stood up against a border standoff with India, a neighbouring power with major political and economic clout in Nepal.
The dispute resulted in a monthslong shortage of essential goods like fuel and medicines in 2015 and 2016. India has denied imposing a blockade.
Since then, Mr Oli has been considered closer to China, which agreed to study whether a Chinese rail link could be extended to Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, and to help construct a tunnel across the Himalayas to Tibet.
China has also agreed to grant Nepal access to its roads and ports as the Himalayan nation seeks to lessen the dominance of India.