North Korea on Friday rejected an offer made this week by its southern neighbor, according to which Pyongyang would receive financial and economic assistance from Seoul in return for giving up its nuclear weapons.
South Korean President Yoon Sok-yul this week proposed to North Korea an aid package in the areas of food, energy and infrastructure, if it abandons its nuclear weapons program.
Leon had put forward this proposal for the first time last May in his inauguration speech, but analysts considered that the chances of Pyongyang accepting such an offer are slim if not non-existent, as North Korea has long asserted that it could never accept such a solution. .
Today, Friday, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, launched a fierce attack on the South Korean president, considering his offer "the height of absurdity," and the highly influential woman said - according to what was quoted by the official Central News Agency - that "when you discover that the plan of Bartering economic cooperation for our honor, for our nuclear weapons, is Leon's big dream, his hope and his plan, which then you realize is really simple, even childish."
In the first southern response to the refusal, Reuters quoted the office of the South Korean president as saying that he regretted Pyongyang's decision to move forward with the development of its nuclear capabilities.
This year, North Korea conducted a record number of missile tests, including the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, a first since 2017, and officials in Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned that North Korea is preparing to resume its nuclear tests.