Friend or foe: Kim Jong-un signals that North Korea may enter a new era of foreign relations

His call for ‘changed times’ might have something to do with a need for international help, reports Donald Kirk

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo) (Reuters)

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un appears to be reversing his hardline policy for now and holding out a tentative hand to his neighbour to the south – and maybe his arch-enemy the US as well.

In what appears like a carefully contrived move to bury the hatchet, meaning his nukes and missiles, Kim has just told a rare congress of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang that “the changed times” call for “comprehensively and expanding external relations".

That calculated verbiage highlighted a report covering “affairs with south [sic] Korea as required by the prevailing situation".