A dialogue between Seoul and Pyongyang should continue regardless of the circumstances, South Korean Unification Minister Nominee Lee In-young said on Monday, just two days after the North Korean side rejected the idea of holding another summit with the United States
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) A dialogue between Seoul and Pyongyang should continue regardless of the circumstances, South Korean Unification Minister Nominee Lee In-young said on Monday, just two days after the North Korean side rejected the idea of holding another summit with the United States.
Lee, a lawmaker representing the ruling Democratic Party, was nominated as a unification minister on Friday.
"It is desirable that dialogue between the South and the North, and between the North and the U.S. continue without stopping under any circumstances," Lee told reporters upon arrival at the unification ministry's inter-Korean dialogue office, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
Lee also vowed to seek a "creative solution" to reach peace on the Korean peninsula and called on Pyongyang to refrain from escalating tensions.
On Saturday, North Korea rejected the possibility of restarting negotiations with the United States and accused Washington of "hostile policy" towards Pyongyang and disregard of agreements made at past summits.
Lee's nomination comes amid the stalemate in inter-Korean relations after North Korea cut off communications with its southern neighbor and blew up the joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong in mid-June. According to Pyongyang, the move was in line with "the mindset of the enraged people" over propaganda leaflets that drifted in from the South. The South Korean government has urged the Keunsaem activists, a group of North Korean defectors, to suspend leafleting, as it could further anger Pyongyang and undermine the safety of people living near the border.
