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| Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo speaks during a press conference with foreign correspondents at the Press Center in downtown Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap |
By Yi Whwan-woo
The murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's older half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia last week is making the international community more hostile toward North Korea, Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said Monday.
Speaking before the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club at the Press Center in downtown Seoul, Hong also said "abnormal and inhumane" incidents have been frequent in the secretive regime.
"The negative view toward North Korea has been growing bigger than ever since the murder of Kim Jong-nam," he said.
"The international community has expressed serious concerns and shown suspicions toward the North Korean regime from the beginning when the incident took place. This is because abnormal and inhumane events, such as the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek, have been occurring there over and over."
Hong assessed Kim Jong-un is relying on a reign of terror to maintain his grip on power as seen from the murder of Kim Jong-nam.
"Internally, he is purging and eliminating the people who can pose a threat to his power, while carrying out nuclear and ballistic missile programs to threaten the international community," he said.
Regarding North Korean human rights, he said addressing the issues at the United Nations will be "a good opportunity to reveal the Pyongyang regime's problems and lead it in the right direction."
Hong was pessimistic about reopening the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. "Any economic cooperation with North Korea while it has no will for denuclearization will only help its nuclear program and only loosen international efforts for denuclearization," he said.
