Seoul,Aug 19,2022: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday slammed Seoul’s offer of economic assistance in return for denuclearisation as the “height of absurdity” and dismissed the possibility of face-to-face talks.
The statement follows South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol this week putting forward an “audacious” aid plan that would include food, energy and infrastructure help in return for the North abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.
Analysts previously said the chances of Pyongyang accepting such an offer — first floated during Yoon’s inaugural speech — were vanishingly slim, as the North, which invests a vast chunk of its GDP into weapons programmes, has long made it clear it will not make that trade.
Kim Jong Un’s sister, Yo Jong, on Friday called Yoon’s offer the “height of absurdity”, adding the entire premise of the North willingly putting its nuclear programme on the table was wrong.
