N.K. leader vows to improve ties with S. Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the New Year’s Day inauguration of a new science and technology complex, state news agency KCNA reported Saturday.

Despot Kim Jong-un says he is ready for war if North Korea is provoked by “invasive” outsiders.

Kim said in last year’s speech that he would be open to a summit with Seoul but tension surged in August after a landmine blast on their border wounded two South Korean soldiers.

Shortly after a 2012 nuclear deal with Pyongyang, the United States had asked North Korea’s chief nuclear envoy to meet bilaterally with his South Korean counterpart, according to a newly released email of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim called for increasing the isolated communist government’s “political and military might” in the new year, according to USA Today.

“We should cherish last year’s high-level talks and make continued efforts to seek dialogue and not take any further steps backwards”, Kim Jong Un said of the August negotiations, adding that he would be open to talks with anyone to discuss “peaceful unification”.

Earlier this week, Kim Yang-gon, the leader’s key aide who handled inter-Korean affairs, died in a vehicle accident, which analysts said could cast a cloud over Seoul-Pyongyang ties.

Kim Jong Un, however, has turned to broadcasting his speeches and using them to deliver his message, which is closely watched for clues to any policy change. “It may hint at the North waiting for Seoul to make the first move”.

“At a time when inter-Korean relations remain deadlocked, North Korea passed the responsibility for the strained ties to the South”, said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

The tyrant also said he wwants to reunify with South Korea in his New Year’s message.

His attendance at the ceremony on Friday marked his first public appearance since his New Year address, when he vowed to raise living standards in the struggling one-party Stalinist state.

Kim has been pursuing the development of a nuclear arsenal while boosting the country’s fragile economy, commonly known as the “byeongjin” policy.