Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has dismissed President Lee Jae Myung’s peace overtures as deceptive and insincere, insisting the two Koreas can never be diplomatic partners.

The North’s state Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim Yo-jong convened a meeting with senior foreign ministry officials the previous day to convey her brother’s foreign policy direction.

Kim Yo-jong reportedly said the Lee administration in Seoul is making desperate attempts to appear different from the previous administration and is pretending to be serious about improving inter-Korean relations.

But she likened its efforts to covering up something foul with a veil of peace, saying Seoul’s true intentions are obvious.

She continued that South Korea’s confrontational attitude toward the North has never changed, regardless of whether the government in power “held the signboard of ‘conservatism’ or wore a mask of ‘democracy,’” stressing that Lee is not the sort of man to change the course of history.

She added that South Korea will have no role, not even a minor one, in the region’s diplomatic affairs with North Korea at the center. 

The remarks came a day after President Lee instructed related ministries to prepare for the phased implementation of the existing inter-Korean agreements following a series of reconciliatory moves.