Even though North Korea recently blew up the inter-Korean joint liaison office in June and diplomacy appears to be stalled, South Korea’s unification minister is still giving Kim Jong Un the benefit of the doubt. During a visit to Panmunjom on Wednesday, Lee In-young said that North Korea is honoring the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement “in its own way.”

In his first visit to the inter-Korean Military Demarcation Line (MDL) at Panmunjom as the newly-appointed unification minister, Lee called North Korea’s decision to blow up the liaison office “regrettable.” However, he also pointedly acknowledged that Kim Jong Un ordered a “suspension of military action” against the South later that month.