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N. Korea firmly rejects S. Korea’s offers for dialogue

July 20, 2015

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) poses with troops of Korean People’s Army Unit 405. (Yonhap/KCNA)

SEOUL, July 20 (Yonhap) — North Korea rejected South Korea’s recent offers for talks Monday, claiming Seoul should first give up its confrontational policy toward Pyongyang.

South Korea’s parliamentary speaker Chung Ui-hwa proposed inter-Korean talks Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. On the same day, the Defense Ministry invited North Korea to the Seoul Defense Dialogue slated for September in Seoul.

The North referred to the dialogue offers as the South’s wicked attempts to politicize the inter-Korean talks, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“If the inter-Korean relations are to improve, an atmosphere where people can sit face-to-face should be first created,” the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement. “But progress in inter-Korean ties cannot be expected due to the current situation.”

Pyongyang slammed Seoul for creating an unfavorable atmosphere for the talks, citing South Korean activists’ practice of sending anti-North Korean leaflets to the North and a joint military exercise between the South and the United States.

The North urged the South to abandon its confrontational policy toward Pyongyang and implement declarations on inter-Korean reconciliation that were made between the South’s previous progressive governments and Pyongyang, the statement showed.

The Unification Ministry voiced regret over the North’s criticism, calling on North Korea to come to the talks for the improvement of the Seoul-Pyongyang relations.

“We express deep regret that the North has rejected all of our proposals for the talks,” Jeong Joon-hee, ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing. “It is highly regrettable that Pyongyang has disparaged Seoul’s intents for pursuing the inter-Korean talks.”

Jeong stressed that there is no change in Seoul’s stance that it will seek dialogue and cooperation with the North for better ties.