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By Kang Seung-woo

The South Korean government is enthusiastic about providing coronavirus vaccines to North Korea as part of its efforts to get stalled inter-Korean relations back on track.

Since the Hanoi summit between the United States and North Korea failed to produce a nuclear deal in February 2019, inter-Korean ties have consequently been deadlocked. In order to break the impasse, the Moon Jae-in administration has floated a variety of ideas to bring the Kim Jong-un regime back to the dialogue table, with vaccine aid emerging as a fresh option.

The latest senior government official to pitch the vaccine supply offer was Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, who told foreign correspondents in Seoul, Wednesday, that South Korea was willing to share COVID-19 vaccines with North Korea.

"The South Korean government has set its sights on inoculating 70 percent of the population by September and achieving herd immunity by November. Even afterwards, if we still have additional vaccines, we can share them with North Korea and other countries having difficulty securing vaccines," Chung said. "We will keep this option open."

However, the prime minister admitted that there had been no consultations with the North about the issue.

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Ahead of Chung, Unification Minister Lee In-young offered last November to provide COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to North Korea.

"South Korea should share coronavirus vaccines with North Korea even if the country runs short of its own supplies," the unification minister said at the time.

Last week, Lee reiterated his call for vaccine aid, saying that it would make South Korea much safer from COVID-19.

However, the government's official stance so far is that nothing has been discussed in earnest.

The vaccine offer is seen as the Moon administration's last-ditch effort to normalize frayed inter-Korean ties and revive the President's Korean Peninsula peace process, according to diplomatic observers.

However, it is highly unlikely that the North will respond to the South's repeated calls.

First of all, North Korea has claimed to have zero coronavirus cases thanks to its early border closure, which makes it hard for the country to accept the aid offer.

In fact, the North has reportedly sent an application to secure a vaccine supply from Gavi, an international vaccine alliance, while ignoring South Korea's proposals.

In addition, in its latest party congress, the North Korean regime criticized the South Korean government of raising "inessential issues," such as anti-epidemic and humanitarian cooperation as well as individual tourism ― an apparent rejection of the South's offers.

Also, China, whose state-owned company has developed vaccines, may provide them to its ally, which could throw cold water on the South Korean government's plan.