SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un turned down an invitation by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to participate in a regional summit next week in the southern city of Busan and has blamed the South for a deep freeze in inter-Korean relations.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday there’s no reason for Kim to visit the South under a “murky” atmosphere and criticized Moon’s government for failing to uphold agreements reached between their leaders in three summits last year.
The North in recent months suspended virtually all co-operation with the South amid a standstill in larger nuclear negotiations with the United States, while demanding that Seoul defy U.S.-led international sanctions and restart inter-Korean economic projects.
The Associated Press
