After Missile Tests, Kim Jong Un Says He Wants to Soon Restore Communication With South Korea

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has announced his willingness to soon restore communications with South Korea following a series of recent missile tests.

The remarks came as part of a speech delivered Wednesday during the fifth session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly and carried by state-run news outlets.

"Kim Jong Un expressed a will to restore again the inter-Korean communication liaison lines which had been cut off because of the worsened relations from early October first as part of the efforts to realize the expectation and desire of the whole nation who wants the present tough inter-Korean relations to rehabilitated as soon as possible and a lasting peace to be settled on the Korean peninsula," according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Communication lines were cut 15 months ago, restored this past July, and then severed again last month amid fluctuating relations on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim said relations with Seoul "are still uneasy and in severe phase of toughness" and accused South Korean authorities of "ignoring and neglecting" a worsening dynamic between the two Koreas as well as of choosing the United States and pursuing new advanced weaponry.

"Now the inter-Korean relations are at the crossroads of serious choice whether to remove the present frozen relations and take the road of reconciliation and cooperation or to keep suffering the pain of division in the vicious cycle of confrontation," he added.

The ruler called on South Korean officials to shift their approach toward North Korea by pursuing peace and abandoning notions of trying to contain the nuclear-armed nation militarily.

"I make clear once again that whether the inter-Korean relations are restored and developed to a new stage or they will be still in the state of deterioration as now depends on the attitude of the south Korean authorities," Kim argued. "We [don't have] any purpose and reason of provoking south Korea or any idea of hurting it. South Korea should quickly get rid of the wild dream that it must contain the provocation of north Korea and of the serious consciousness of crisis and damage."

The remarks come just a day after official North Korean media released an image of the new Hwasong-8 missile complete with "a detached hypersonic gliding warhead" for added maneuverability as tested for the first time ever a day earlier.

It was the third launch this month as North Korea resumed launches for the first time since in an apparent protest to joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises last month.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly called for better relations with North Korea and took the opportunity during his United Nations General Assembly speech last week to call for an ultimate declaration to end the technical state of war that remains between the two nations since their 1950s conflict.

Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee and sister of Kim Jong Un, referred to Moon's proposal as "an interesting and an admirable idea" in a statement Monday. But, in words similar to those of her brother and other senior North Korean officials, she said that "respect for each other should be maintained and prejudiced viewpoint, inveterate hostile policy and unequal double standards must be removed first" before such a move could be considered.

The two Koreas set out on a historic peace process in 2018 as Kim Jong Un, Moon and former President Donald Trump held a series of separate meetings and one joint gathering on the inter-Korean border. The effort ultimately unraveled, however, and President Joe Biden has inherited a return to tough rhetoric from North Korea.

Biden has said he was prepared to both engage North Korea diplomatically and respond to any provocations, but his administration has repeatedly said that Pyongyang has not responded to overtures for talks.

Kim Jong Un said Wednesday he evaluated Wednesday that "there is no change in the US military threat to and hostile policy toward us at all."

"Instead, their expressions and methods get more cunning," he added. "Now the United States advocated 'diplomatic involvement' and 'dialogue without precondition.' But it is, to all intents and purposes, no more than a show to cover up their hostile acts and a prolongation of their hostile policy pursued by the successive US administrations."

Kim was reported to have also tasked his foreign affairs team with making "perfect preparations to take tactical measures for thoroughly implementing the strategic plan of the DPRK government toward the United States on the basis of strictly studying and analyzing in the interconnection the present US Administration's tendency toward the DPRK, the prospect of the political situation of the United States and the rapidly-changing relations of international forces."