SEOUL, July 28. /TASS/. The Republic of Korea will work to build trust with North Korea, President Lee Jae-Myung said at an official ceremony on the appointment of new unification minister Chong Dong-yong, the press service of the country's leader said.

"It is important to restore trust between South and North Korea as part of the broader effort to achieve peace," it quoted Lee Jae-Myung as saying.

Chong Dong-yong promised to work towards achieving this goal, noting that "a high wall of distrust has been built between Seoul and Pyongyang over years of hostile policy."

Earlier on Monday, North Korea rejected negotiations with the Republic of Korea, despite the outwardly conciliatory steps of the recently appointed Lee Jae-Myung, as it did not see fundamental changes in Seoul's policy. This was outlined in a press statement by the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, deputy head of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Yo Jong, distributed by the Korean Central News Agency.

It notes that under its new president, Seoul has stopped propaganda broadcasts against the DPRK through loudspeakers and the scattering of propaganda leaflets. Representatives of South Korea, the statement said, have also begun talking about the need to end the era of responding "harshly to harshness" and begin the era of responding "to kindness with kindness."

However, the document notes, Pyongyang still believes that the South Korean leader has bad intentions, saying that he is "obsessed with unification by absorbing" the DPRK.

"In fact, his blind faith in an alliance with the United States and his confrontational policy are no different from those of his predecessor," the statement said.

Pyongyang is not interested in Seoul's proposals, the two states have nothing to discuss at the negotiating table.