Minister Kim Yeon-chul offered to step down only a day after North Korea brought down a building used by Seoul and Pyongyang for dialogue. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has not officially accepted Kim’s resignation.
Kim told reporters that he took “all the responsibility for deteriorating inter-Korean relations” and that he was “sorry for not being able to fulfill the many requests and hopes of the Korean people for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.”
The Unification Ministry is a South Korean government body that manages relations with North Korea. Kim joined the ministry last April and was tasked with starting inter-Korean talks, which broke down in a few months after three inter-Korean summits in 2018.
Pyongyang has been voicing displeasure for months because plunging into diplomacy with South Korea and the United States has not resulted in aid from sanctions that paralyzed the North Korean economy.
However, North Korea has trapped threats and actions taken in the last two weeks in retaliation. Pyongyang accused Seoul of violating an agreement made by Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, citing not responding adequately after a group of North Korean defectors sent anti-North Korean leaflets to their shared border.
During their first summit in April 2018, as part of their efforts to build a “new era of peace,” Moon and Kim Jong Un agreed to stop “all hostile acts and eliminate their means, including broadcasting through loudspeakers and distribution of leaflets” together their shared border. It is illegal for most North Koreans to consume information that is not approved by the country’s powerful propaganda machine, and that can have dire consequences.
Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister and one of the country’s political officials, said the leaflets insulted his brother, who is a crime in North Korea, said defectors.
“They dare to slander the dignity of our highest leadership, our Chairperson whom we consider the most sacred as the central core, and ridicule all of our people at the same time,” he said in a statement released Wednesday by North Korean state media. North Korea also aired footage on Wednesday on state-run television that appeared to show the liaison office was smashed to pieces. The facade of a nearby building was also damaged by the explosion.
Experts say it is possible that North Korea used the leaflet issue to create a crisis to gain influence in future negotiations, a game that had been used previously in diplomatic talks.
Yoon Do-han, Moon’s spokesman, said Wednesday that South Korea would “no longer bear” North Korea’s “unreasonable comments and actions” and urged Kim’s regime to return to the negotiating table.
“This is a violation of fundamental beliefs built between the leaders of the two Koreas, and we warn the North that such irrational words and actions will no longer be tolerated,” he said.
“We especially hope that North Korea maintains basic courtesy in the future.”
