Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, speaks during a meeting in Pyongyang, Aug. 10, 2022, in this image from the state-run Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA)
North Korea has no interest in diplomatic talks with the South, and Seoul’s recent push to mend ties with Pyongyang is “not the work worthy of appreciation,” according to a Monday statement attributed to the dictator’s powerful sibling.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un and a member of North Korea’s State Affairs Commission, its top tier ruling body, dismissed as fantasy any attempt to ease tensions between the two countries, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
These “‘sincere efforts’” are akin to “spinning a daydream,” according to Kim Yo Jong’s statement, her first commentary on new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
Lee was inaugurated June 3 after a snap-election following former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment four months earlier and removal from office in April.
Kim’s statement appeared weeks after a series of moves by Lee to thaw relations between the two countries, which are still technically at war.
“We did not care who is elected president or what policy is being pursued in [South Korea] and, therefore, have not made any assessment of it so far,” Kim said.
Lee, a member of South Korea’s Democratic Party, vowed to rebuild relations with the North by taking the first step.
On June 11, South Korea shut off its propaganda loudspeakers aimed at the North from the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula. They broadcast K-pop music and news aimed at shedding light on Pyongyang’s dictatorial control of its citizens.
Last month, the South’s Ministry of Unification warned human rights agencies and anti-North Korea groups against sending propaganda leaflets and humanitarian aid north of the border on balloons.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes a weapons test in this undated image from the state-run Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA)
“No matter how desperately the Lee Jae-myung government may try to imitate the fellow countrymen and pretend they do all sorts of righteous things to attract our attention … they cannot turn back the hands of the clock of the history which has radically changed the character of the [North-South] relations,” Kim said.
Pyongyang has “no interest” in the South’s future policies and that there was no reason for their countries to meet, according to her statement.
North Korea issued similar statements after Donald Trump was nominated as the Republican Party candidate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
“We do not care” whichever party’s nominee is elected president, due to the U.S.’s track record in North Korea diplomacy, KCNA reported July 23, 2024.
Seoul will not “overreact” to Kim’s statement and will continue to dismantle the “wall of distrust” between the two countries, Unification Ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam said Monday during a news conference in Seoul.
Kim’s statement was not as hostile as her previous remarks and they did not appear in North Korean newspapers tailored for its citizens, Koo added.
