International Security
N
Korea's Kim says open to 'highest-level' talks with South
12:37
PM
1
January
2015
AFP/ Pyongyang
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un proposed
the "highest-level" talks with South Korea Thursday,
opening the way to a historic summit as his communist country battles to fend
off international prosecution over its dismal human rights record.
The sudden move, made
during his traditional New Year message, would clear the path for the first top-level
inter-Korean meeting since a 2007 summit in Pyongyang.
"Depending on the
mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the
highest-level talks," Kim said, calling for a turnaround in icy relations
between the two Koreas, which are technically at war.
South Korean media
said he was referring to a summit with President Park Geun-Hye.
Kim also urged
Washington to take a "bold shift" in its policy towards Pyongyang and
denounced the US for leading an international campaign over the North's human
rights record.
"The US and its
followers are holding on to a nasty 'human rights' racket as their schemes to
destroy our self-defensive nuclear deterrent and stifle our republic by force
become unrealisable," he said.
He described nuclear
weapons, meanwhile, as the guardian of his country and vowed to sternly
retaliate against "any provocations" threatening its dignity.
Pyongyang faces
growing pressure to improve its dismal human rights record, with the UN
stepping up a campaign to refer the North's leaders to the International
Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
The isolated nation,
meanwhile, suffered a mysterious Internet outage last month after Washington
vowed retaliation over a crippling cyber attack blamed on North Korea against Sony,
the studio behind a controversial film about a fictional plot to assassinate
Kim.
The South's
unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs welcomed Kim's overture
and urged the North to quickly accept its proposal for high-level talks this month.
"Our government
wants North Korea to respond quickly to our proposal for dialogue if it is
truly willing to improve relations through dialogue," it said in a
statement.
A US State Department
official, meanwhile, said: "We support improved inter-Korean
relations."
- 'Make every
effort' -
Kim said in his
message that Pyongyang "will make every effort to advance dialogue and
negotiations", adding that the "tragic" division of the Korean
peninsula should not be tolerated.
The leader's tone was
generally conciliatory, but he made it clear that South Korea should end its
joint military exercises with the United States.
"Needless to say,
faithful dialogue is not possible in such a brutal atmosphere that war
exercises targeting the other side are going on," Kim said.
The last round of
top-level negotiations was held in February and resulted in the North hosting a
rare union of relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
The two Koreas agreed
to restart dialogue when a top-ranking North Korean delegation made a surprise
visit to the Asian Games held in the South in October.
The trip raised hopes
of a thaw in relations between the neighbours, but was followed by minor
military clashes along the border that renewed tensions and talks never
materialised.
Park has repeatedly
said the door to dialogue with Pyongyang is open, but insists the North must
first take tangible steps towards abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.
Analysts said Kim was
extending an olive branch after realising that Pyongyang could not end its
isolation without improving ties with Seoul.
"North Korea
opted for a practical line after facing up to reality, because it is now
difficult to improve ties with the United States and other countries," Yoo
Ho-Yeol, a Korea University professor, said.
Kim's New Year
message, which sets the direction of policy for the coming year, also focused
on improving living standards in North Korea, which suffers chronic food
shortages.
When his father and
late leader, Kim Jong-Il, died in December 2011, he left a country in dire
economic straits, the result of a "military first" policy that fed
ambitious missile and nuclear programmes at the expense of a malnourished
population.
Kim, however, also
urged North Koreans to work harder in strengthening the country's military
capabilities through the development of "powerful advanced" weapons.
Under his leadership,
North Korea has placed a satellite in orbit and conducted its third -- and most
powerful -- nuclear test.
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