President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit South Korea (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
“They should know that train and bus carrying our delegation to the Olympics are still in Pyongyang.”
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) — North Korea on Sunday slammed President Moon Jae-in for his recent press conference remark that U.S. President Donald Trump has to be credited for helping open up inter-Korean talks. The North also threatened a withdrawal of its participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
The response came four days after Moon’s New Year press conference where the president said the resumption of inter-Korean talks should largely be credited to Trump, indicating the U.S.’ hard sanctions may have brought the North to the negotiating table.
“At this time, ill-boding remarks chilling the atmosphere for reconciliation are heard from South Korea, upsetting the people,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English dispatch.
“He even made such rubbish that the North was led to dialogue to open up the chapter for ‘the North’s denuclearization,’ not for the improvement of the South-North relations,” the report said, referring to Moon’s praise of Trump’s role. “The present South Korean chief executive’s attitude casts doubt as to his intent to improve the North-South ties and build confidence.”
“We will as ever strive to improve the North-South ties but will never remain an onlooker to sordid acts of chilling the efforts,” the report also warned.
The article by the KCNA, the mouthpiece outlet for the North Korean regime, came while the two Koreas are in the process of arranging North Korea’s participation in the Olympics next month following their rare high-level talks held last week.
The KCNA also referred to Moon’s press conference remark that he can sit down for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if some conditions are met.
“Only when talks are held, can there be joint statement and joint press release and can there be an agreement both sides share. This is a common sense.” according to the KCNA report. “But the South Korean chief executive said that talks can be held only when results are expected.”
The North also indirectly threatened to roll back its decision to join the Olympics, saying that “They should know that train and bus carrying our delegation to the Olympics are still in Pyongyang.”
“The South Korean authorities had better ponder over what unfavorable results may be entailed by their impolite behavior.”