The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has downplayed South Korea’s efforts to ease inter-Korean tensions since President Lee Jae Myung took office, and has made clear the North’s hostile stance.
In a statement carried by the North’s state Korean Central News Agency on Thursday, Kim Yo-jong denied South Korean claims that the North has removed some of its loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border.
She said North Korea has not removed any of the loudspeakers and has no intention of doing so, calling peace overtures from South Korea’s new government deceptive.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had said Saturday that it detected the North removing some of its loudspeakers, days after the South dismantled its own front-line speakers used for anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts.
Kim Yo-jong also warned that the recent adjustment to the upcoming Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military drills between Seoul and Washington “does not deserve praise and will prove futile.”
She added that North Korea will not be sitting down with the United States for dialogue, dismissing any reports raising that possibility as “incorrect speculation.”