PYONGYANG, January 05, 12:07 /ITAR-TASS/. It is impossible to mend relations between Pyongyang and Seoul “through the efforts of just one side,” said a statement by a representative of the North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Unification of Korea on Sunday.

It criticized the stance of the South Korean authorities, who undermine in their moves and statements since the start of the year “attempts to establish the atmosphere of trust for the sake of normalizing bilateral relations”,

The statement said that in his New Year address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had favoured the establishment of a favourable climate to see an improvement in relations between the North and the South. This message reflects the position of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which comes out in favour of “a relaxation of tension on the Korean peninsula and revision of inter-Korean ties,” the statement said.

Nevertheless, the South Korean authorities were making statements “insulting a good will shown by the DPRK,” the statement said. Seoul rejected an appeal by Pyongyang “to solve inter-Korean problems by their own efforts developing cooperation with the US in the issue of DPRK’s nuclear program,” it said.

South Korea had turned down North Korea’s offer to give up on a hostile propaganda campaign against each other, the message said. All this testified “to Seoul’s unwillingness to give up this year a policy of confrontation and contribute to an improvement in relations between the North and the South,” the statement said. It dubbed the South Korean authorities “provocateurs to be blamed for a deadlock in bilateral relations”.