South Korea called for a security emergency meeting early Sunday after the North Korean leader's sister threatened to use military action against South Korea in the latest escalation of frictions between the two neighbors.
Kim Yo Jong, a trustworthy assistant to her brother, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, disclosed that she would abandon the right to pursue the next effort against the South to her country's military in a statement issued by government news agency KCNA, Saturday.
Seoul's top security officials, headed by Chung Eui-yong, the presidential office's director of national security, evaluated the current situation on the Korean Peninsula as well as the capital city's response to Pyongyang's recent harsh rhetoric, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok clarified.
The urgent security meeting came as Pyongyang built up tensions in inter-Korean connections last week, with a threat to cut off all lines of communication with South Korea.
Pyongyang threatened to disconnect all telephone lines between the two Koreas last Tuesday, in protest against anti-North Korea leaflets sent by activists and North Korean defectors in the South.
There is concern that North Korea may resort to provocation to consolidate its internal unity and hammer out concessions as nuclear talks with the United States remain impasse. Observers say North Korea is desperately in need of sanctions relief in the face of US-led harsh sanctions and the global health crisis.
The Ministry of Unification, which manages relations with North Korea, said both Koreas will seek to abide by all the agreements they have reached. The Ministry of Defense said separately that it closely monitors the North Korean army and maintains a firm military readiness.
Experts say that the latest announcements from the North are not just its usual bluffing, and that the joint liaison office could be the first target of its mounting southern aggression, in line with a long-range roadmap. They added that inter-Korean ties with few signs of reconciliation are expected to stay chilly for the time being.
Kim Jin Ah, a North Korean expert at Seoul's Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a government research center, said the North is using propaganda leaflets as an alibi to crack the doldrum in its talks with the United States.
Since Kim Jong Un's last meeting with US President Donald Trump in 2019 broke down without an agreement, nuclear negotiations with Washington remain suspended.
Kim's battle to address economic woes has possibly faced setbacks as the coronavirus pandemic forced North Korea to close its border with China, its largest trading partner.
