Kim's sister criticizes Lee for peace overture, says Seoul not diplomatic counterpart
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, March 2, 2019. AP-Yonhap
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday criticized President Lee Jae Myung for offering reconciliatory overtures, saying that Seoul is not a diplomatic counterpart to Pyongyang.
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday criticized President Lee Jae Myung for offering reconciliatory overtures, saying that Seoul is not a diplomatic counterpart to Pyongyang.
Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the North Korean ruling party's Central Committee, said Lee is unfit to change the course of history, while continuing to denounce ongoing military drills between South Korea and the United States.
Kim made the remarks during a meeting with the foreign ministry's director generals the previous day, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
"Not even a petty role would be given" to South Korea "in the regional diplomatic stage unfolding with our country at the center," Kim Yo-jong said. "The Republic of Korea cannot be our diplomatic counterpart."
The remarks by Kim follow a series of Seoul's overtures to improve long-frayed inter-Korean relations. In his Liberation Day speech last week, Lee said he would respect North Korea's political system and would not seek unification by absorption.
He also pledged to take steps to restore the now-suspended 2018 inter-Korean military pact designed to ease tensions.
Kim said that since Lee took office, his administration has made "sincere efforts" to create the appearance of change aimed at improving inter-Korean ties, but its "true confrontational intent" cannot be hidden no matter how hard it tries.
She referred to Lee's Cabinet meeting remarks Monday that "accumulating small steps could lead to restoration of mutual (inter-Korean) trust," dismissing them as "a delusion and a silly dream in every word."
"We have repeatedly witnessed and experienced the Republic of Korea's dirty political system for decades," Kim said, claiming that Seoul's "confrontational ambitions" have persisted both under the conservative and liberal governments.
She also renewed criticism of the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise between South Korea and the United States, calling it "an exercise for invasion."
"It should be noted that the latest joint military exercise, conducted again under the guise of reconciliatory gestures, involves reviewing a new operational plan aimed at the early removal of our nuclear and missile capabilities and the expansion of attacks into the territory of our republic," Kim noted.
She also named Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, slamming their description of North Korea as "our enemy" during their confirmation hearings, and criticized Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's key policy tasks submitted to the National Assembly.
The KCNA also reported that Kim instructed the country's foreign ministry to prepare response measures on relations with "the most hostile country" and its followers, based on state leader Kim Jong-un's view of South Korea.
The previous day, the KCNA published the leader's inspection of a test of the naval destroyer, the Choe Hyon, quoting him as saying that the joint South Korea-U.S. military exercise was aimed at igniting a war.
The back-to-back criticism from North Korea came as South Korean experts said the regime might have expected a halt to this year's joint Ulchi exercise under the Lee administration.
North Korea often reacts furiously to the large-scale summertime drills, describing them as a "war rehearsal."
This year's Ulchi exercise began Monday for an 11-day run as planned, although half of its around 40 field training exercises have been postponed to next month, apparently in a bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.