Kim Yo Jong’s unusually complimentary remarks to President Lee Jae Myung late Monday suggests North Korea recognizes the domestic political risk Lee took in saying he “felt sorry” for a series of drone incursions, but they do not signal any change in Pyongyang’s stance of treating Seoul as a hostile state.

At a cabinet meeting Monday morning, Lee expressed “regret to the North” over tensions caused by the “irresponsible and reckless actions of some individuals,” after a monthslong investigation found that an intelligence official and two soldiers had allegedly supported civilian drone flights into DPRK airspace.

Hours later, the North