SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 South Korea\u2019s government said Friday it will promote civilian efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea in hopes of softening a diplomatic freeze deepened by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s growing nuclear ambitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Youngse didn\u2019t specify the type of aid he sees as conceivable or whether it was realistic to expect those exchanges to induce meaningful diplomatic breakthroughs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n North Korea has suspended virtually all cooperation with rival South Korea since the collapse of its nuclear negotiations with the United States in 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of U.S.-led sanctions and steps to cut back its nuclear weapons and missiles program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Kim punctuated his testing activity with provocative statements that North Korea would preemptively use its nukes in crisis situations against South Korea or the U.S., as the allies revived their large-scale military exercises \u2014 which had been downsized in recent years \u2014 to counter the North\u2019s growing threat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While ignoring South Korean calls for talks, the North has ridiculed President Yoon Suk Yeol\u2019s offer for economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization steps, accusing Seoul of recycling \u201cfoolish\u201d proposals<\/a> Pyongyang already rejected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Kwon\u2019s news conference Friday was to address reporters on the ministry\u2019s policy plans for 2023. But the dearth of new ideas for reviving dialogue underscored how rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula have sidelined a ministry dedicated to improving relations with the North and promoting an eventual peaceful unification.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although South Korea\u2019s current priority is to maintain a strengthened defense posture against the North in conjunction with its alliance with the United States, it’s also critical to make consistent efforts to revive an atmosphere for dialogue, Kwon said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cTo reopen a path for dialogue amid tightly strained South-North relations and to build trust between the South and North, even if it\u2019s little by little, we will support the efforts of civilian organizations to resume contact with North Korea and also try to broaden contact through international organizations,\u201d said Kwon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n
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