S. Korea Keeps Door Open for North Korea Talks
Cho revealed that Seoul's outreach had been quietly relayed to North Korea through an unlikely intermediary — Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who recently completed a rare visit to Pyongyang.
Despite the back-channel effort, the minister offered a candid assessment of where things stand.
"At this point, there are no visible signs of North Korea returning to dialogue," Cho said. "But we have fully conveyed our willingness to engage in dialogue … and I believe North Korea will eventually respond."
The diplomatic overture comes as inter-Korean relations remain deeply frozen, with Pyongyang continuing to frame its relationship with Seoul under a hardline "two hostile states" doctrine that leaves little room for reconciliation.
Cho conceded that meaningful engagement remains deadlocked but left the door open for a broader diplomatic shift, noting that the prospect of renewed US-North Korea talks "always remains open," contingent on Washington's next moves.
The outlook grew dimmer still following Balakrishnan's Pyongyang visit. Speaking Thursday, Singapore's top diplomat said the North currently shows no appetite for engagement with either Washington or Seoul, opting instead to double down on self-reliance and military deterrence.
Balakrishnan also flagged a significant hardening in North Korea's stance toward the South, noting that Pyongyang now outright rejects any notion of reunification — a marked departure from decades of official, if largely rhetorical, openness to the idea.
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