Sharjah24 – Reuters: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he is willing to restore severed inter-Korean hotlines next month, but accused the United States of proposing talks without changing its "hostile policy" to the country, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
Kim made the remarks at the reclusive country's rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, which gathered for a second day to discuss the government's political, economic and social agenda.
Kim expressed his willingness to reconnect inter-Korean hotlines starting from October, but criticised the South's "delusion" over what it calls military provocations from the North.
North Korea severed the hotlines in early August in protest against joint South Korea-U.S. military drills, just days after reopening them for the first time in a year.
The decision to reactivate the lines is to help "realise the expectations and desire of the entire Korean nation" for recovery and durable peace in cross-border relations, Kim said.
"We have neither aim nor reason to provoke South Korea and no idea to harm it," he said, according to the official KCNA news agency.
South Korea's Unification Ministry responsible for inter-Korean affairs welcomed Kim's offer on the hotlines, but did not comment on his other remarks.
Kim took a tougher tone toward Washington, accusing President Joe Biden's new administration of "employing more cunning ways and methods" in pursuing military threats while still offering talks.
"The U.S. is touting 'diplomatic engagement' and 'dialogue without preconditions' but it is no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts," Kim said.
The Biden administration has said it reached out to Pyongyang to break an impasse over talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear and missile programmes in return for U.S. sanctions relief.
It has criticised North Korea's recent missile launches as "destabilising" and "threats."
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