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| In this June 30 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the North Korean side of the border at the village of Panmunjeom in the Demilitarized Zone. AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
Communication channels between the Koreas are "still alive" despite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's order to destroy all South Korean-built facilities at a tourist site in North Korea, a presidential aide said Thursday.
"We don't think communication channels between the Koreas have been severed… some said communication between the Koreas had been closed off. Simply, this is untrue," the aide told reporters in a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae.
"I want to add a couple of things. Since the very beginning of denuclearization talks with the North, we didn't expect things to go smoothly and in line with our favored metrics. President Moon Jae-in shared these views many times, which were also frequently shared and reaffirmed by the presidential spokesman."
A day after Kim's open criticism of the buildings at the resort, which he described as being "like makeshift tents in a disaster-stricken area," Pyongyang accused Washington officials of "maintaining hostility" against the North despite the "special relationship" between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The North's statement, issued Oct. 24 by foreign ministry adviser Kim Kye-gwan, also included a demand for Washington to "act wisely" by the end of the year.
"Contrary to the political judgments and intentions of President Trump, Washington political circles and DPRK policy makers of the U.S. administration are hostile to the DPRK for no reason, preoccupied with the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice," Kim said in the statement, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"We want to see how wisely the United States will pass the end of the year. Our leader Kim Jong-un considered his personal relationship with Trump as special and that mutual trust was still intact," he said in the statement. The release was carried by its official KCNA news agency.
Regarding questions over "new solutions and methods," the specifics of which were being discussed between U.S. and North Korean nuclear negotiators, the South Korean presidential aide declined to elaborate. "As lots of things are happening now between the United States and North Korea and between the Koreas, the presidential office can't comment unless there is a visible development."
The recent working-level denuclearization talks between the North and the United States held in Stockholm, Sweden, failed to produce any concrete results. North Korea demanded the United States offer a wider range of sanctions relief. But Washington asked Pyongyang to present detailed and comprehensive denuclearization steps.
