North Korea rejects South's offer of envoys to diffuse tensions

North Korea on Wednesday rejected the South’s offer to send special envoys to calm escalating tensions a day after it destroyed an inter-Korean liaison office, threatening instead to send troops to demilitarised zones near the border. In a series of stinging statements issued through state media, Pyongyang warned that the blowing up of the office on Tuesday was only a “first step” in what appears to be a staged rolling back of peace accords struck between the two countries in 2018. The North has been piling pressure on Seoul since early this month to take action over defector groups in the South who send anti-Pyongyang messages and food supplies across the border via balloons and other means. After Pyongyang warned of another escalation over the weekend, Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, on Monday offered to send Chung Eui-yong, his national security adviser, and Suh Hoon, the South’s spy chief, to help diffuse the situation. On Wednesday, North Korea angrily rebuffed the offer. “We flatly reject the tactless and sinister proposal,” said a message issued under the name of Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s sister. She said the offer was “disrespectful” in the face of the North’s strict pandemic lockdown, adding: “we are extremely displeased to get such an absurd judgment and reckless proposal.”

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