TOKYO, July 28 (KUNA) -- South Korea said Monday it will consistently take necessary actions to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea rejected President Lee Jae Myung's proposal to resume dialogue, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the Presidential Office.
Earlier in the day, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused President Lee Jae Myung's administration of "blindly adhering" to the South Korea-US alliance, declaring that Pyongyang will never engage in talks with Seoul.
The Presidential Office said it is "taking note of" Pyongyang's first official statement on inter-Korean affairs since Lee's inauguration in early June. "We have witnessed the high wall of distrust between the two Koreas due to years of hostility and confrontation," the office said.
"The government will consistently take necessary actions to ensure a Korean Peninsula without hostility and conflict, in line with the Lee administration's firm principle of establishing a state of peace where there is no need to fight," the office added.
As part of efforts to repair strained ties with the North, since taking office last month, Lee has promptly suspended military- and spy agency-operated propaganda radio, television and loudspeaker broadcasts targeting the North and urged civic groups to halt propaganda leaflet campaigns as it seeks to mend frayed ties with North Korea and resume dialogue.
After declaring in late 2023 that the two Koreas are two separate "hostile" countries, Pyongyang moved to dismantle inter-Korean concepts, such as unification, and suspended its broadcasting channels aimed at Seoul. (end) mk.res