Kim Jo Yong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, has threatened to disrupt inter-Korean cooperation while criticizing ongoing arms drills between South Korea and the United States, and warning the US opposed “causing a stink” if they want peace, state media reported Tuesday.
The statement comes a day before America’s top diplomatic and defense representative, currently in Japan, is expected to arrive in Seoul.
“We take this opportunity to warn the new U.S. administration of trying hard to provide powdery smell in our land,” Kim said in a statement made by state news agency KCNA. “If he wants to sleep in peace for the next four years, he’d better stop causing bad consequences in the first place.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to focus on foreign and security policy during their time in northeast Asia.
Kim’s comments time – the first direct address to the new U.S. administration since Biden began in January – appears to be designed to ensure that North Korea is at the top of Blinken and Austin’s agenda when they land in Seoul, said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korean expert at King’s College London.
“So far, the debate has focused on the Quad, dealing with China and the study of North Korean policy,” he said. “Now Kim’s statement will be at the heart of conversations.”
North Korea has so far recalled U.S. calls for communication, the White House said Monday, as the relationship that began under President Donald Trump expanded into the presidency of Joe Biden.
Director Kim Jong Un had three high-profile meetings with Trump and exchanged a series of letters but relations broke down about the North’s claim that sanctions would be lifted as prerequisite for denuclearization.
In Washington, DC, the State Department quoted Ned Price as saying that the Biden administration had organized an “in-depth” review of U.S. policy toward North Korea, and that they were continuing continued to seek views from Japan and South Korea.
“We have listened carefully to their views, including through a tripartite consultation,” said Price. The review is expected to be completed in a few weeks.
‘War drills’
South Korean and American troops began joint military exercises last week, with drills limited to computer simulations due to the spread of coronavirus infection as well as the ongoing efforts to communicate with the North.
“War and hostility drills can never go with communication and cooperation,” state media quoted Kim Yo Jong as saying.
The combined drills have long been a source of anger for Pyongyang and the country demanded that they be broken at a rare party conference in January.
The annual U.S. and South Korean military exercises have long been a source of anger for Pyongyang [File: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters]
Kim warned that inter-Korean communications could be in jeopardy if the South becomes “more excited” by the singing out of the inter-Korean arms agreement, signed in September 2018, as well as a Workers’ Party group aimed at developing cross-border co-operation. .
Last year, Pyongyang blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong blaming the move on anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent from the south. In 2019, he conducted a series of missile tests.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement, as colorful as it is, is broadly consistent with North Korea’s past statements expressing frustration about what Pyongyang sees as the differences between the diplomatic push of the USA and what it does, Jenny Town, director of 38 Stimson Center, told Reuters news agency.
“Despite the agreements in place, positive actions, especially on the inter-Korean agenda, have been too small while actions that strengthen the hostile relationship” old ‘continues, “she said.