The powerful sister of North Korea's leader said on Thursday that Seoul must show the "utmost respect" to mend ties after Pyongyang denied responsibility for the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) mine blast that wounded three South Korean soldiers last month.
North Korea has rejected claims it was behind the explosion inside the DMZ, the heavily mined buffer area that has divided the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice.
A joint Seoul-UN Command investigation concluded the blast was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South Korean side of the border.
South Korea's military demanded an official apology last week, accusing Pyongyang of "a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement", while Seoul's civilian leadership called for the North to return to dialogue.
"If they [Seoul] really want to reverse the relations between the DPRK and the ROK, they should be conscious of their rival's feelings in every word and action and show their utmost respect, solicitude and sincerity before anything," North Korea's Kim Yo Jong said on Thursday, using the two countries official acronyms.
On Wednesday, a government report revealed Seoul had secured a UN sanctions exemption to send medical equipment next month to North Korea, which has long suffered poor healthcare infrastructure.
Analysts say the move would allow Seoul to provide North Korea with humanitarian aid including ambulances and medical sterilisation tools.
The North has long been criticised for prioritising the military over adequately providing for its people.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Elizabeth Salmon, said this year that food shortages remained a key humanitarian concern in the country.
Government sources said the aid programme was worth about 9.3bn won (R115m) in total.
Kim Jong Un's sister said the aid was Seoul's attempt to pivot from what she called a "self-orchestrated farce" that had failed to get the response it was seeking.
The mines responsible for the blast last month were believed to have been laid over a year ago as part of Pyongyang's border fortification work, according to South Korea's defence minister Kang Shin-chul.
Kim Yo Jong previously ridiculed President Lee Jae Myung's latest overture for dialogue as "the climax of the farce that everyone should watch", while calling Seoul's demand for an apology "quite ridiculous".
Seoul's unification minister Chung Dong-young has also proposed to Pyongyang talks to address issues along the border.
But Kim Yo Jong said it was her country's "unshakable" position that North Korea has "nothing to exchange or go with the ROK [South Korea] and no need to [meet] face to face with it".
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