North Korea rebuffs Seoul’s medical aid offer as ‘insult’

North Korea rejected South Korea’s planned shipment of medical supplies to Pyongyang as an “insult” and political provocation. Kim Yo-jong said there would be no dialogue with Seoul, while South Korea considers seeking another UN extension for the humanitarian aid shipment

Seoul: North Korea on Thursday rejected Seoul’s planned humanitarian shipment of medical supplies as “an insult” and “political provocation.”

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made the remarks in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). South Korea’s unification ministry has said it planned to send 1,431 medical items covering 166 categories to a hospital in Pyongyang, necessary for diagnosis, surgery and treatment, as part of a humanitarian medical support program.

---

The ministry secured a sanctions exemption in May from the UN Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee, Yonhap News Agency reported.

“This is an insult to our state and mutant political-motivated provocation against it and a grave encroachment upon our national law,” Kim said, dismissing the move as “a noisy and ugly act” and “another farce.”

She had earlier used the same word, “farce,” to dismiss Seoul’s official conclusion that North Korean mines caused the September 21 explosions that wounded three South Korean soldiers. “Now when it is impossible to expect a good box-office record from their poor farce, they have created another farce titled ‘a scenario for aiding medical equipment,’ the part 2 of the ‘mine explosion case,'” she said.

She also repeated that Pyongyang has no intention of engaging with Seoul. “We have nothing to exchange or go with the ROK and no need to face to face with it,” she said, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

“There will be no change in the true colours of the ROK, most hostile to the DPRK, and the hostile nature of the DPRK-ROK relations,” she said.

DPRK is the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. With inter-Korean exchanges and dialogue channels virtually non-existent amid souring ties, it had been unclear whether Pyongyang would accept the aid at all.

Earlier in the day, a unification ministry official said the chances of shipping the items as planned were slim and that the government would seek another extension from the United Nations.