Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister warned South Korea of a nuclear strike if it attempted to attack, in what looked to be an attempt to legitimize further provocations to test the hawkish new president who would take office in Seoul soon. According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong stated that if South Korea ‘opts for armed confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to ultimately carry out its duty’. It was the younger Kim’s second warning in under 48 hours, following her previous condemnation of South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook as a ‘senseless and scum-like monster’.
Kim Yo Jong’s statements were the first in official media in roughly six months, indicating that she remains the face of Pyongyang’s policy toward Seoul. South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol is due to take office on May 10 after promising to strengthen ties with the United States and take a harsher stance against North Korea and China. Kim Yo Jong, called ‘Princess Yo Jong’ by her late father, former leader Kim Jong Il, is a blood member of the ruling family, giving her a unique status that surpasses her comparatively modest rank in the governing Workers’ Party. She is frequently seen in official media with her brother and has recently led North Korea’s pressure measures against South Korea and the U.S.
Her recent warnings follow Suh’s statements last week, in which he confirmed Seoul’s capacity to undertake preemptive attacks on North Korea in order to avert an approaching assault. South Korean defense doctrine has traditionally permitted such strikes, but the potential of one became more immediate after Yoon embraced the approach during the presidential campaign. North Korea, according to Kim Yo Jong, is ready to launch its own ‘dreadful assault’ if the situation reaches that point. ‘And the South Korean army will experience a horrible fate that is little short of utter annihilation and ruin,’ she stated, according to a KCNA dispatch on Tuesday.
According to the Yonhap News Agency, Yoon’s delegation met with US officials in Washington and agreed to develop and strengthen the two countries’ military collaboration. Last month, North Korea blasted its first intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017, triggering the visit. South Korea’s progressive President Moon Jae-in has long campaigned for détente with North Korea. However, after the talks failed, Kim’s regime labeled Moon a meddling mediator and, in 2020, burnt down a $15 million liaison office north of the border, one of the South Korean leader’s finest achievements.
The next provocation from North Korea could be its first nuclear test in more than four years. Workers were seen building a new route at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where North Korea conducted all six of its prior nuclear tests, according to South Korean media, including the DongA Ilbo daily, in late March. Kim Yo Jong did extend an olive branch to Yoon, stating that North Korea wants to avoid conflict and that her brother, whom she referred to as ‘our commander,’ believed North Korea’s ‘primary enemy is simply war itself’.
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