 |
|
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers his New Year’s address on the morning of Jan. 1 at the Central Committee complex in Pyongyang. Pyongyang/KCNA, Yonhap News
|
New Year’s address wishing for “successful Olympics” sends signal inter-Korean relations could improve
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Jan. 1 that North Korea was “prepared to take necessary measures, including the sending of a delegation” for the Winter Olympics taking place in Pyeongchang on Feb. 9 to 25. Kim also said South and North Korean authorities “could hold an urgent inter-Korean meeting to achieve this.” In a recorded New Year’s address broadcast that morning on Korean Central Television, Kim said, “The Winter Olympics taking place soon in South Korea will be a good opportunity to show the status of the [Korean] people, and I hope that the event takes place successfully.” The next question is whether the Pyeongchang Games could help to thaw inter-Korean ties and lend momentum to South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s attempts to realize a breakthrough on the North Korean nuclear issue. In his message, Kim hinted that North Korea was willing to fully restore severed inter-Korean relations. “The political situation that has taken shaped demands right now that North and South not be bound by the past, but improve inter-Korean relations and work on establish decisive measures to usher in a breakthrough in autonomous unification,” he said. “If we truly desire reconciliation and unity of the [Korean] people, then we will open up a path for dialogue, contact, and association not only for the ruling party in South Korea but for the opposition parties as well as groups and individuals at all levels of society,” he continued. In particular, Kim stressed “first relaxing the acute military tensions between North and South and establishing a peaceful environment on the Korean Peninsula.” “The South Korean authorities must halt all nuclear war exercises with outside powers and cease all activities to introduce US nuclear armaments and weapons of invasion,” he said. Kim went on to say inter-Korean relations “are ultimately an issue internal to the [Korean] people, and North and South must act as owners in resolving it.” “All of the issues that are being raised between North and South must be from a firm perspective and standpoint of seeking to resolve them among ourselves as a people,” he stressed. Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun said the South Korean government “welcomes Chairman Kim mentioning the need for improving inter-Korean relations in his New Year’s address, stating his willingness to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Olympics, and proposing meetings between South and North Korean authorities to achieve that.” “A successful staging of the Pyeongchang Olympics will contribute to peace and reconciliation for the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia, and the rest of the world,” Park said. In terms of the US, Kim made no mention of “dialogue,” reiterating Pyongyang’s hardline stance. Naming the “completion of national nuclear armament” as the greatest achievement of the past year, Kim stressed that the US “must understand clearly that the whole territory of the US is within the range of our nuclear strike and a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office and this is just a reality, not a threat.” “The US cannot come out and wage war against our state,” he said. By Jung In-hwan and Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporters Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
