N. Korea’s Kim offers to restore inter-Korean hotline, slams US ‘hostile policy’

FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva on October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

SEOUL — 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.

In his speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly, the reclusive country’s rubber-stamp parliament, Kim said U.S. military threats and hostile policy remain unchanged under the new administration of President Joe Biden.

The Biden administration has said it had reached out to Pyongyang to break an impasse over talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear and missile programs in return for U.S. sanctions relief.

But Kim said offers of re-engagement and dialogue are only a “cover” for its sustained hostile policy.

Kim expressed his willingness to reconnect inter-Korean hotlines starting October “as part of efforts to realize peoples’ hopes for better relations and lasting peace” between the rivals, the official KCNA news agency said.

North Korea severed the hotlines in early August, just days after reopening them for the first time in a year amid strained ties.