A senior North Korean official struck down Seoul’s hopes for an inter-Korean detente late Tuesday, insisting that South Korea remains the “most hostile” enemy state despite Kim Yo Jong’s rare compliment to President Lee Jae Myung the previous day.

In a statement released via state media, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Jang Kum Chol mocked Seoul’s “hope-filled dream reading” of Kim’s recent remarks, which characterized Lee as “frank and bold” for expressing regret over the South’s civilian drone incursions.

“The identity of the ROK, the enemy state most hostile to the DPRK, can never change with any words or conduct by