Kim Jong Un's powerful sister rejects appeasement overture by South's new president
5 Kim Yo Jong giving a speech.
AP
Kim Yo Jong's comments suggest again that North Korea, now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia, has no intentions of returning to diplomacy with South Korea and the US anytime soon. But experts said North Korea could change its course if it thinks it cannot maintain the same booming ties with Russia when the Russia-Ukraine war nears an end.
'We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed with' South Korea, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.
It's North Korea's first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June. In an effort to improve badly frayed ties with North Korea, Lee's government has halted anti-Pyongyang frontline loudspeaker broadcasts, taken steps to ban activists from flying balloons with propaganda leaflets across the border and repatriated North Koreans who were drifted south in wooden boats months earlier.
5 It's North Korea's first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June.
Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP via
5 South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaking at a press conference.
AP
5 North Korea has been shunning talks with South Korea and the US since leader Kim Jong Un's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019.
REUTERS
Kim Yo Jong called such steps 'sincere efforts' by Lee's government to develop ties. But she said the Lee government won't be much different from its predecessors, citing what it calls 'their blind trust' to the military alliance with the US and attempt to 'stand in confrontation' with North Korea. She mentioned the upcoming summertime South Korea-US military drills, which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
North Korea has been shunning talks with South Korea and the US since leader Kim Jong Un's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions. North Korea has since focused on building more powerful nuclear weapons targeting its rivals.
North Korea now prioritizes cooperation with Russia by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine, likely in return for economic and military assistance. South Korea, the US and others say Russia may even give North Korea sensitive technologies that can enhance its nuclear and missile programs.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly boasted of his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and expressed intent to resume diplomacy with him. But North Korea hasn't publicly responded to Trump's overture.
5 North Korea now prioritizes cooperation with Russia by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.
REUTERS
In early 2024, Kim Jong Un ordered the rewriting of the constitution to remove the long-running state goal of a peaceful Korean unification and cement South Korea as an 'invariable principal enemy.' That caught many foreign experts by surprise because it was seen as eliminating the idea of shared statehood between the war-divided Koreas and breaking away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of peacefully achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms.
Many experts say Kim likely aims to guard against South Korean cultural influence and bolster his family's dynastic rule. Others say Kim wants legal room to use his nuclear weapons against South Korea by making it as a foreign enemy state, not a partner for potential unification which shares a sense of national homogeneity.
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South Korea remains 'the enemy' of North Korea despite recent moves by Seoul to ease tensions along the 38th parallel, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in state media Monday. North Korea has 'no interest' in talks with the South no matter what proposal is offered, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim's comments mark North Korea's first official response since the new South Korean government took office on June 4 following months of political turmoil over the disgraced former leader Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration in December. Yoon said the martial law declaration, which the National Assembly rescinded after six hours, was necessary to fight North Korean influence among opponents to his leadership in the South Korean government. Conciliatory overtures made since President Lee Jae Myung's election hadn't erased how South Korea's military alliance with the United States had 'stained' the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, she added. The new South Korean president's reaffirmation of the US alliance shows there is no chance for improved North-South relations, the statement said. Kim said the new Lee administration would be little different from Yoon's government, describing what she called its 'blind trust' in Seoul's alliance with Washington. 'There can be no change in our state's understanding of the enemy, and they cannot turn back the hands of the clock of the history,' Kim said in Monday's statement. Former President Yoon endorsed a hardline stance against Pyongyang, bolstered by strong South Korean-US military relations, which included ramping up joint military exercises, seeing assets like a US Navy ballistic missile submarine and aircraft carriers visit South Korean ports, and participation in trilateral military exercises with Japan – also a North Korean foe – as well as the US. In its first official comments on North-South relations under the Lee administration, South Korea's Unification Ministry on Monday said Seoul would continue to look for ways to engage with Pyongyang. Unification Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam noted that Kim's comments were not especially hostile or mocking, compared to her previous statements on inter-Korean relations. But, Koo said, it shows that Pyongyang is closely watching the Lee administration's North Korea policy, while 'the wall of mistrust' between the two Koreas is 'very high.' In an attempt to ease tensions, Lee's government has suspended loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone and stopped the distribution of South Korean leaflets dropped from balloons into the North. In 2024, North Korea scrapped a longstanding policy of seeking peaceful reunification and blew up roads and bridges that could link the two countries as relations soured. In response to the road destruction in October, the South Korean military opened fire within the area south of the military demarcation line while announcing it was maintaining 'fully readiness posture under cooperation with the US.' But the new South Korean government will be less reactionary, said Koo, the Unification Ministry spokesperson. 'The government will consistently make efforts to create inter-Korean relations of reconciliation and cooperation and to realize coexistence of peace on the Korean Peninsula without being sensitive to North Korea's response,' he said.
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Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Monday that Pyongyang had "no interest" in Seoul's efforts at improving relations. File Pool Photo by Jorge Silva/EPA-EFE/ SEOUL, July 28 (UPI) -- Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Monday that Pyongyang had "no interest" in efforts by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to improve hostile relations between the neighbors. Her statement was the North's first official comment on Lee, who was elected in June after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over his botched martial law attempt. "We did not care who is elected president or what policy is being pursued in the ROK and, therefore, have not made any assessment of it so far," Kim said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea. Kim said that the new administration's ongoing military ties with Washington made any efforts at rapprochement pointless. "When only the 50-odd days since Lee Jae Myung's assumption to power are brought to light ... their blind trust to the ROK-U.S. alliance and their attempt to stand in confrontation with the DPRK are little short of their predecessor's," Kim said, using the official acronym for North Korea. "We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither the reason to meet nor the issue to be discussed," Kim said. Lee has pledged to improve inter-Korean relations, which have sharply deteriorated in recent years after a period of diplomatic progress in 2018-19. Last month, he suspended propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ and cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. Seoul also recently repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats several months ago. Kim, however, rejected the administration's gestures in her statement, calling the loudspeaker suspensions "nothing but a reversible turning back of what they should not have done in the first place." "In other words, it is not the work worthy of appreciation," she said. Seoul's Ministry of Unification, which oversees inter-Korean relations, said Kim's remarks showed that Pyongyang is "closely watching the direction of the Lee Jae Myung administration's policy toward North Korea." "The wall of distrust between the South and the North is very high due to the hostile confrontation policy of the past few years," ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam said at a press briefing on Monday. "The government will not overreact to North Korea's response, but will continue to calmly and consistently pursue efforts to create inter-Korean relations of reconciliation and cooperation and to realize peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula," Koo said. Newly appointed Unification Minister Chung Dong-young emphasized the need to resume dialogue with North Korea when he took office on Friday. "Restoring disconnected communication channels between North and South Korea is an urgent priority for resuming inter-Korean dialogue and quickly restoring trust," Chung said during a visit to the border truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ. In her statement, Kim called for the Unification Ministry to be abolished and said that Chung was "spinning a daydream" with reconciliation efforts. "There can be no change in our state's understanding of the enemy and they can not turn back the hands of the clock ... which has radically changed the character of the DPRK-ROK relations," she said. In October, North Korea revised its Constitution to declare the South a "hostile state" after Kim Jong Un called for the rejection of the long-held official goal of reunification.
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