The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said her country would never see South Korea as a partner for diplomacy, state media reported on Wednesday in what was her latest taunt of Seoul’s new efforts to mend ties.
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Kim Yo-jong, who is one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, denounced the ongoing South Korea-US military drills as a “reckless” invasion rehearsal and claimed Seoul’s peace gestures conceal a “sinister intention” against Pyongyang.
Her comments came during a meeting on Tuesday with senior Foreign Ministry officials about her brother’s diplomatic strategies in the face of persistent threats from rivals and a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
On Monday, the North Korean leader condemned the South Korean–US military drills and vowed a rapid expansion of his nuclear forces as he inspected his most advanced warship being fitted with nuclear-capable systems.
The North’s news agency said Kim Yo-jong condemned the South as the “top-class faithful dog” of the United States and that the reparation of inter-Korean relations desired by Seoul “will never” happen.
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The siblings’ back-to-back statements followed the latest outreach by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who said last week that Seoul would seek to restore a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement aimed at reducing border tensions, while urging Pyongyang to reciprocate by rebuilding trust and resuming dialogue.