Kim Yo-jong: "There is no need to sit down with South Korea or discuss any issues," maintaining a hardline stance

North Korea's Kim Yo-jong, the Deputy Director of the Workers' Party, has expressed a strong stance regarding the Lee Jae-myung administration's North Korean policy.

Kim declared, "We officially state once again that we have no interest in whatever policies are established in Seoul or whatever proposals arise; there is no need to sit down with South Korea or discuss any issues."

On the 28th, the Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim delivered a statement titled "The inter-Korean relations have completely escaped the timeframe of the concept of kinship."

This statement marks the first official position from North Korea since the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung administration, clearly indicating that North Korea's hardline stance on inter-Korean relations remains unchanged.

In the statement, Kim referenced measures implemented by the Lee Jae-myung administration, such as the suspension of North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts, the cessation of leaflet dispersal, and the allowance of individual South Korean tourist visits to North Korea, calling them "efforts made in good faith." She also mentioned the comment by Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young suggesting a shift from a time of confrontation to a time of reconciliation and cooperation.

Dismissal of the possibility of improving inter-Korean relations… "No change in our recognition of South Korea as an adversary"

However, Kim asserted that, despite these efforts, "No matter how much the Lee Jae-myung administration tries to attract our attention and gain international spotlight by pretending to be kin and causing a stir with all sorts of righteous acts, there can be no change in our country's recognition of South Korea as an adversary." She emphasized, "The ticking clock of history that fundamentally changed the nature of inter-Korean relations cannot be reversed."

In particular, regarding the possibility of inviting Kim Jong-un to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, she dismissed it as a "futile fantasy."

Kim criticized the Lee Jae-myung administration, stating, "Even by raising the normalization of the Ministry of Unification as a historical task, it is clear that the essence of Korean politicians, mentally trapped in the specter of absorption unification, will not change at all."

Furthermore, she evaluated that "Even looking at just over 50 days of Lee Jae-myung's rule, while they have been spreading sweet-sounding rhetoric about easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korean relations, their blind faith in the U.S.-South Korea alliance and their efforts to confront us are no different from those of their predecessors."

Dismissal of the suspension of North Korean broadcasts… "It is not worthy of evaluation"

Regarding the South Korean government's measures to suspend North Korean broadcasts, Kim devalued the action by stating, "All that has occurred are issues that South Korea has brought upon itself, and however they deal with it, it will remain their own affair," adding, "It is merely a reversible attempt to undo things that they should have refrained from doing in the first place."

She cut off the conversation by stating, "It is not worthy of evaluation."

Kim emphasized, "If South Korea, which unilaterally declared our country as its main enemy and fostered an atmosphere of extreme confrontation in the past, now expects to overturn all the results it has brought upon itself with a few emotional words, that would be a tremendous miscalculation."

This statement is the first official position from North Korea since the Lee Jae-myung administration's inauguration, during which North Korea had previously only reported on the results regarding President Yoon Suk-yeol's martial law and impeachment, and President Lee's election without issuing any official comments.

Image source: Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the Workers' Party / Korean Central TV, President Lee Jae-myung / Photo provided = Presidential Office