Kim Yo Jong

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un‘s influential sister repeated her dismissal of Seoul’s outreach efforts, state media reported Wednesday, saying that South Korea “cannot be a diplomatic partner.”

Kim Yo Jong “sharply criticized the essence of the deceptive ‘appeasement offensive'” by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

“We have witnessed and experienced the dirty political system of the ROK for decades,” Kim told North Korean Foreign Ministry officials during a meeting on Tuesday, using the official acronym for South Korea.

“The ambition for confrontation with the DPRK has been invariably pursued by the ROK, whether it held the signboard of ‘conservatism’ or wore a mask of ‘democracy,'” Kim said.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

Kim’s remarks come as the United States and South Korea are holding their annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise. The 11-day exercise began Monday and includes live field maneuvers, computer simulation-based command post exercises and related civil defense drills. Some 21,000 troops, including 18,000 South Korean personnel, are participating this year.

President Lee has stressed that the drills are defensive in nature and has made a series of overtures to North Korea since taking office in June in an effort to improve strained ties.

In a speech Friday marking the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Lee vowed to “respect” North Korea’s political system and said Seoul would not pursue “unification by absorption.”

“We have no intention of engaging in hostile acts,” Lee said. “Going forward, our government will take consistent measures to substantially reduce tensions and restore trust.”

Kim called Lee’s defensive characterization of the joint military exercise “gibberish” and said his administration’s “stinky confrontational nature is swathed in a wrapper of peace.”

“Lee Jae Myung is not the sort of man who will change the course of history,” she added.

The Blue House, South Korea’s presidential office, responded to Kim’s comments Monday, calling them “regrettable.”

“The Lee Jae Myung administration’s preemptive measures for peace on the Korean Peninsula are not self-serving or for the benefit of one side, but rather are for the stability and prosperity of both South and North Korea,” the office said in a statement. “It is regrettable that North Korean officials are misrepresenting and distorting our sincere efforts.”

Kim Yo Jong has made multiple public statements in recent weeks dismissing Seoul’s rapprochement efforts, which include removing its anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeakers from border areas inside the DMZ.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday said the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise demonstrated the allies’ “will to ignite a war” and called for the rapid expansion of Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities

SEOUL, Aug. 19 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said a U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise showed their “will to ignite a war” and called for the rapid expansion of Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities, state media reported Tuesday.

“The U.S.-ROK intensified military nexus and the muscle-flexing are the most obvious manifestation of their will to ignite a war,” Kim said, according to state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Kim made the remark as he inspected the North’s first 5,000-ton destroyer, the Choe Hyon, at Nampo Shipyard on Monday — the same day that the United States and South Korea kicked off an 11-day joint military exercise.

The annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield includes live field maneuvers, computer simulation-based command post exercises and related civil defense drills. Some 21,000 troops, including 18,000 South Korean personnel, are participating this year.

Kim said the allies’ joint drills “have always been provocative and dangerous in their nature but the gravity is increasing,” according to KCNA.

“The security environment around the DPRK is getting more serious day by day and the prevailing situation requires us to make a radical and swift change in the existing military theory and practice and rapid expansion of nuclearization,” he said.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

During his visit to Nampo Shipyard, Kim received a report on the Choe Hyon’s various weapons systems and expressed “satisfaction over the fact that the major tasks for making the navy high-tech and nuclear-armed are progressing on a stage-by-stage basis as planned,” KCNA said.

The destroyer, which was launched in April, is armed with a wide range of weapons including anti-aircraft missiles, 127mm naval guns and nuclear-capable cruise and ballistic missiles, according to North Korean reports.

A second destroyer, named the Kang Kon, was unveiled in May but suffered a launch accident that left it listing on its side.

Kim, who was in attendance at the launch, called the mishap a “criminal act” and warned of serious consequences for those found responsible.

The ship was repaired and relaunched in June, although analysts have questioned whether it is fully operational. At that ceremony, Kim vowed to “commission two destroyers of the same class or higher into the navy every year.”

Kim’s latest comments come as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is making a push to improve inter-Korean relations.

In a speech Friday marking the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Lee vowed to “respect” North Korea’s political system and said Seoul would not pursue “unification by absorption.”

“We have no intention of engaging in hostile acts,” Lee said. “Going forward, our government will take consistent measures to substantially reduce tensions and restore trust.”

North Korea has so far rebuffed Lee’s overtures. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, recently condemned Seoul’s “blind trust” in its military alliance with Washington and mocked reconciliation efforts as “nothing but a pipedream.”

Aug. 18 (UPI) — President Trump, as you sit down with President Lee Jae Myung on Aug. 25, you must not be swayed by his dangerously naive stance on “respect” for North Korea‘s political system. I say this not as a politician or a pundit, but as a soldier and practitioner/strategist who has spent his life confronting the nature of authoritarian regimes and understanding what it takes to resist them. President Lee’s position, that South Korea should affirm “respect” for the North’s totalitarian system and renounce unification by absorption, is not only strategically misguided but also morally bankrupt. It plays directly into Kim Jong Un‘s political warfare playbook, undermines the very purpose of the ROK/U.S. alliance, and sends a chilling message to 25 million oppressed Koreans living under tyranny.

Let’s be crystal clear: North Korea (with its Workers Party of Korea) is not a legitimate political system (which is why many of us write “north” in the lower case, though our editors often correct this). It is not a state that deserves our diplomatic courtesies or rhetorical deference. It is a mafia-like crime family cult masquerading as a government. It is a totalitarian regime that has committed, and continues to commit, crimes against humanity, as documented exhaustively in the 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry report. These are not allegations. They are facts backed by satellite images, eyewitness testimony, and escapee accounts. We are talking about gulags, torture chambers, public executions, and enforced starvation. To “respect” such a system is to betray the Korean people in the North who suffer daily under its jackboot.

President Lee’s argument is that by affirming respect and renouncing absorption, he can create space for inter-Korean dialogue and reduce tensions. But this is a fantasy built on hope, not strategy. The Kim family regime does not seek coexistence. It seeks domination. It does not want peace. It wants submission. It does not seek reconciliation. It seeks leverage. Every time a South Korean leader or American president makes conciliatory gestures without demanding reciprocal action, Kim Jong Un sees it not as good faith, but as weakness. He exploits it to gain legitimacy, extract economic concessions, and drive wedges into our alliance.

President Lee says he is not seeking unification by absorption. Fine. But he also says he “respects” the North’s political system. That is where the real danger lies. Because the more we normalize the abnormal, the more we embolden the regime to harden its rule. What the Korean people in the North deserve is not the international community’s respect for their captors, but solidarity with their longing for liberation. They deserve a unified Korea, not by force, but by freedom. That is not absorption. That is self-determination.

President Trump, you know what it means to negotiate from a position of strength. You know how dangerous it is to give away leverage before the other side has made a single concession. Do not allow your personal rapport with Kim Jong Un, or your desire for a legacy-defining deal, to cloud your judgment. You called Kim “rocket man” before you exchanged “love letters.” But love letters won’t free the Korean people, and respect for the regime won’t bring peace.

President Lee’s gestures, halting propaganda broadcasts, telling activists to stop sending leaflets and restoring the 2018 military agreement, may seem like confidence-building measures. But without reciprocity, they are simply appeasement. Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister and a key regime mouthpiece, has already dismissed Lee’s outreach as a “pipe dream.” That should tell us everything we need to know about Pyongyang’s intentions.

The ROK/U.S. alliance must remain grounded in shared values, freedom and liberty, human rights, and the rule of law. Any strategy that begins by legitimizing the enemy’s political system undermines those very values. You would never “respect” ISIS’s caliphate or al-Qaeda’s ideology. Why offer respect to a regime that systematically enslaves its own people and threatens nuclear war?

To be clear, no one is advocating war. We are advocating clarity of purpose and unity of message. Our strategic objective must remain what it has always been: the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula under a liberal democratic system that guarantees the rights and dignity of all Koreans. That does not require invasion. It requires principled resistance to tyranny and a long-term strategy to support internal change, what some might call a Korean-led, values-based unification.

You have the power to set the tone for this summit. Do not give Kim Jong Un the propaganda victory of seeing the leader of the free world align with a South Korean president who chooses appeasement over accountability. Instead, reaffirm the alliance’s moral foundation. Remember the image of Ji Seung Ho holding up his crutches at your first State of the Union address to inspire all of us with his escape from the North. Speak directly to the Korean people in the North: We have not forgotten you. We will not abandon you. We do not “respect” your oppressors. We believe in your future.

Mr. President, history will remember what you say in that room with President Lee. Will you echo his message of concession? Or will you stand firm on the principles that made America great and the alliance strong?

I urge you, do not be persuaded by words that excuse oppression. Instead, speak truth. And let that truth be a beacon to all Koreans, North and South, who still believe in freedom.

David Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel who has spent more than 30 years in the Asia Pacific region. He specializes in Northeast Asian security affairs and irregular, unconventional and political warfare. He is vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation. After he retired, he became associate director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. He is on the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the OSS Society and is the editor at large for the Small Wars Journal.

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung pledged to “respect” North Korea‘s political system and said Seoul would not seek unilateral reunification in a speech to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula on Friday.

“We affirm our respect for the North’s current system, aver that we will not pursue any form of unification by absorption and assert that we have no intention of engaging in hostile acts,” Lee said in a ceremony at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.

Liberation Day commemorates the end of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. The holiday is also celebrated in North Korea.

Lee’s administration has made efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas since he took office in June. In his speech Friday, he drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor, ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took a hardline approach in dealing with the North.

“Inter-Korean dialogue, which had been maintained through countless ups and downs, was completely halted during the previous administration,” Lee said. “Going forward, our government will take consistent measures to substantially reduce tensions and restore trust.”

Lee said he would take “proactive and gradual steps” to restore the 2018 inter-Korean military pact that was suspended amid tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang during the Yoon administration in 2024.

The pact established buffer zones along the border and included measures such as the removal of some guard posts in the DMZ and the banning of live-fire exercises in certain areas.

Seoul has already made conciliatory gestures such as removing its propaganda loudspeakers from border areas and calling on activists to stop floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North.

The South’s military reported that North Korea began dismantling its own speakers, but Pyongyang denied the claim on Thursday.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the military’s assessment “unfounded” and rejected overtures from Seoul as a “pipedream.”

In his speech, Lee said the 80th anniversary was “an opportune time to end the era of confrontation and hostility and jointly usher in a new era of peaceful coexistence and shared growth on the Korean Peninsula.”

“I hope that North Korea will reciprocate our efforts to restore trust and revive dialogue,” he added.

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (UPI) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday denied Seoul’s claim that the North had begun removing propaganda speakers inside the DMZ and dismissed South Korean outreach efforts as a “pipedream,” state-run media reported.

South Korea is “misleading the public opinion by saying that we have removed the loudspeakers installed on the southern border area,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

“It is unfounded unilateral supposition and a red herring,” she said. “We have never removed loudspeakers installed on the border area and are not willing to remove them.”

The South’s military removed its anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeakers from border areas inside the DMZ last week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff reported over the weekend that North Korea began dismantling its own speakers in some forward areas,

On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung commented on the North’s “reciprocal measures” during a cabinet meeting, saying he hoped it would lead to renewed inter-Korean dialogue and communication.

Lee’s administration has made efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas since he took office in June. In addition to the loudspeaker removal, Seoul has cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border and recently repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats.

Kim’s statement comes days before Seoul and Washington are scheduled to commence their summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise, set for Aug. 18-28. North Korea regularly denounces the allies’ joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

Half of Ulchi Freedom Shield’s 44 planned field training exercises have been rescheduled to next month, with local media reports claiming the move was made to avoid provoking Pyongyang.

Kim, however, rejected Seoul’s gestures as “nothing but a pipedream.”

“Whether the ROK withdraws its loudspeakers or not, stops broadcasting or not, postpones its military exercises or not and downscales them or not, we do not care about them and are not interested in them,” she said, using the official acronym for South Korea.

In response to Kim’s statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff maintained the military’s account that the North had removed some of its loudspeakers.

“The military has explained the facts regarding what it observed, and I believe we need to be careful not to be misled by the other side’s stated intentions,” JCS spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun said at a briefing Thursday. “North Korea has always made claims that are untrue.”

SEOUL, Aug. 8 (UPI) — Washington has noted “with interest” a recent statement by the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un suggesting a willingness to resume dialogue with the United States under certain conditions, a U.S. State Department official said.

Seth Bailey, acting deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the remark at a public event Thursday in reference to comments made last week by Kim Yo Jong.

In a published statement, Kim dismissed the notion of resuming denuclearization talks with Washington but appeared to leave open the possibility of a new approach to negotiations.

“The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state … should be a prerequisite,” Kim said. “It would be advisable to seek another way of contact on the basis of such new thinking.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

She added that her brother’s relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump was “not bad.”

“We have seen high-level statements from the DPRK leadership, including recent statements from Kim Yo Jong, which we note with interest,” Bailey said at an event in Arlington, Va., held by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency for family members of missing troops from the Korean War.

Bailey said that the Trump administration remains committed to the principles outlined in a joint statement from his 2018 Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un.

“Since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, he has made clear his willingness to engage in negotiations with North Korea to achieve these policy goals,” Bailey said. “The president has offered to engage Chairman Kim Jong Un on multiple occasions.”

Bailey also noted the efforts by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to improve relations with the North.

“The new ROK administration has demonstrated a willingness to engage with North Korea, taking meaningful steps to reduce tensions across the Korean Peninsula,” Bailey said, using the official acronym for South Korea.

Earlier this week, the South Korean military removed loudspeakers that had been installed along the DMZ to blast anti-Pyongyang messages across the border. Seoul also recently repatriated six North Koreans and has made multiple public calls for the North to resume inter-Korean communications.

On Thursday, the United States and South Korea announced details of their upcoming large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise. Roughly half of their 40 planned field training exercises will be postponed until next month, both militaries said, citing factors such as an ongoing heat wave. However, speculation has swirled that the move was made in an effort to avoid provoking Pyongyang, which frequently condemns the drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry on Friday echoed Bailey’s calls for the resumption of diplomacy with North Korea.

“South Korea and the United States share the position that they are open to dialogue with North Korea for peace on the Korean Peninsula and a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue,” ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong said at a press briefing when asked about Bailey’s remarks.

“The government has also repeatedly expressed its active support for the resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks,” she said.

Chang added that the Unification Ministry is working on proposals for cooperation between Seoul and Washington on North Korean issues ahead of an expected summit between Presidents Lee and Trump later this month.

“In preparation for the South Korea-U.S. summit, we are in close consultation with relevant organizations regarding peace on the Korean Peninsula and the restoration of inter-Korean relations,” she said.

SEOUL, Aug. 6 (UPI) — South Korea completed removing loudspeakers that had been installed along the DMZ to blast anti-Pyongyang messages across the border, military officials said Wednesday.

Around 20 speakers were completely dismantled by Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The military began the project on Monday, calling it a “practical measure that will help ease tensions between the South and the North.”

In June, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered the suspension of the broadcasts, which included news, K-pop music, and information about democracy and life in South Korea.

Seoul had resumed the Cold War-style propaganda campaign one year earlier in response to a series of provocations by North Korea that included floating thousands of trash-filled balloons across the border.

The North countered by broadcasting bizarre noises such as metallic screeching and animal sounds, disturbing residents in areas near the DMZ. Pyongyang quieted its own speakers after the initial suspension but has not yet appeared to take corresponding action to remove them.

As of Tuesday, there were “no movements by the North Korean military to dismantle their loudspeakers,” Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun said at a press briefing.

President Lee has made an effort to improve inter-Korean relations since taking office in June. In addition to the loudspeaker suspension, his administration has also cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

Last month, Seoul repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats and announced plans to return the remains of another North Korean national found near the maritime border.

Pyongyang did not respond to the repatriation plan by a deadline on Tuesday afternoon, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said. Local government officials will conduct “a respectful funeral in accordance with procedures for handling unclaimed bodies,” the ministry said.

North Korea has rebuffed Seoul’s attempts at rapprochement so far.

Last week, Kim Yo Jong — the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — said Pyongyang had “no interest” in responding to efforts by the Lee administration to thaw relations, citing Seoul’s “blind trust” in military ties with the United States.

The allies are scheduled to hold their annual large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise this month. Pyongyang frequently condemns the joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

SEOUL, Aug. 5 (UPI) — Pyongyang did not respond to Seoul’s plan to repatriate the remains of a North Korean national discovered on the southern side of the inter-Korean border, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

Last week, the ministry announced its plans to transfer the body of the presumed North Korean citizen via the truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ. It urged the North to respond by 3 p.m. Tuesday through an inter-Korean hotline that has not been used since April 2023.

Since the North failed to reply, authorities will proceed “in accordance with guidelines for handling North Korean bodies,” the ministry said in a message to reporters.

“The local government will conduct a respectful funeral in accordance with procedures for handling unclaimed bodies,” the message said.

South Korean authorities found a body believed to be that of a North Korean man on June 21 off the coast of Seongmodo Island in the Yellow Sea. He was born in 1988 and was a farm worker in North Hwanghae Province, the ministry said last week, citing an identification card found on the body.

The attempted repatriation was the latest effort by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to thaw relations with the North.

On Monday, the South Korean military began removing loudspeakers that had been installed along the DMZ to blast anti-Pyongyang messages across the border, a gesture officials called a “practical measure that will help ease tensions.”

Last month, Seoul repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats. The North did not respond to any of Seoul’s notification efforts regarding the repatriation plan, which were made via the U.S.-led United Nations Command, but sent vessels to the border to retrieve its citizens.

The Unification Ministry also recently used a press briefing to request that the North give advance notice before releasing water from a dam across the border. Ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong called the public appeal a form of “indirect communication” with Pyongyang.

North Korea has rebuffed any efforts at rapprochement, however. Last week, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said that Pyongyang had “no interest” in engaging with Seoul.

SEOUL, Aug. 1 (UPI) — The top diplomats of the United States and South Korea reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea and the enforcement of international sanctions against Pyongyang during a meeting in Washington on Thursday, both governments said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun held their first talks since the election of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung last month. Their meeting took place one day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a tariff deal with Seoul and said that he would host a summit with Lee at the White House within two weeks.

The two diplomats “reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of the DPRK [and] the full implementation of international sanctions,” State Dept. spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a readout Thursday.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

They also “expressed serious concerns about North Korea’s increasing military cooperation with Russia,” Bruce said.

North Korea has deployed troops, artillery and weapons to Russia to aid in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, and is believed to be receiving much-needed financial support and advanced military technology for its own weapons programs in return.

The diplomats “both welcomed the announcement of a full and complete trade deal and the forthcoming visit of ROK President Lee Jae Myung to Washington,” Bruce added, using the official acronym for South Korea.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a readout of the meeting on Friday, saying Rubio and Cho “agreed to maintain a robust combined defense posture and firmly uphold the goal of North Korea’s complete denuclearization.”

Cho also revisited President Lee’s invitation for Trump to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will be held in Gyeongju from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. Rubio said Washington “is well aware of this and will actively consider it,” according to the ministry.

On Tuesday, North Korea dismissed the notion of engaging in nuclear negotiations with President Trump.

“Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state … will be thoroughly rejected,” Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement carried by official media.

“The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state … should be a prerequisite for predicting and thinking everything in the future,” she said

SEOUL, July 29 (UPI) — Seoul’s Unification Ministry on Tuesday publicly called for Pyongyang to respond to its plan to repatriate the remains of a North Korean national that was discovered on the southern side of the inter-Korean border.

South Korean authorities found a body believed to be that of a North Korean citizen on June 21 off the coast of Seongmodo Island in the Yellow Sea, the ministry spokesperson’s office said in a statement sent to reporters.

The government plans to repatriate the remains next Tuesday via the truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ, the ministry said, urging the North to respond through an inter-Korean hotline that it has not used since April 2023.

“Given the severed inter-Korean communication lines, sending a notice to North Korea is difficult,” the ministry said in a message directed to Pyongyang. “Therefore, we are informing you of the contents of this notice through the media.”

The North Korean man was born in 1988 and was a farm worker in North Hwanghae Province, the ministry said, citing an identification card found on the body.

Earlier this month, the South repatriated six North Koreans across the maritime border in the East Sea, months after they drifted into southern waters and were rescued.

The North did not respond to any of Seoul’s notification efforts about that repatriation plan, which were made via the U.S.-led United Nations Command. However, North Korea sent vessels to the border to retrieve the citizens.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry also recently used a press briefing to request that the North give advance notice before releasing water from a dam across the border. Ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong called the public appeal a form of “indirect communication” with Pyongyang.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has pledged to improve inter-Korean relations, which have deteriorated sharply in recent years after a period of diplomatic progress in 2018-19.

Shortly after taking office last month, Lee suspended propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ and cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

North Korea has rebuffed any efforts at rapprochement, however. On Monday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said that Pyongyang had “no interest” in engaging with Seoul.

SEOUL, July 28 (UPI) — Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Monday that Pyongyang had “no interest” in efforts by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to improve hostile relations between the neighbors.

Her statement was the North’s first official comment on Lee, who was elected in June after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over his botched martial law attempt.

“We did not care who is elected president or what policy is being pursued in the ROK and, therefore, have not made any assessment of it so far,” Kim said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.

Kim said that the new administration’s ongoing military ties with Washington made any efforts at rapprochement pointless.

“When only the 50-odd days since Lee Jae Myung’s assumption to power are brought to light … their blind trust to the ROK-U.S. alliance and their attempt to stand in confrontation with the DPRK are little short of their predecessor’s,” Kim said, using the official acronym for North Korea.

“We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither the reason to meet nor the issue to be discussed,” Kim said.

Lee has pledged to improve inter-Korean relations, which have sharply deteriorated in recent years after a period of diplomatic progress in 2018-19. Last month, he suspended propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ and cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. Seoul also recently repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats several months ago.

Kim, however, rejected the administration’s gestures in her statement, calling the loudspeaker suspensions “nothing but a reversible turning back of what they should not have done in the first place.”

“In other words, it is not the work worthy of appreciation,” she said.

Seoul’s Ministry of Unification, which oversees inter-Korean relations, said Kim’s remarks showed that Pyongyang is “closely watching the direction of the Lee Jae Myung administration’s policy toward North Korea.”

“The wall of distrust between the South and the North is very high due to the hostile confrontation policy of the past few years,” ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam said at a press briefing on Monday.

“The government will not overreact to North Korea’s response, but will continue to calmly and consistently pursue efforts to create inter-Korean relations of reconciliation and cooperation and to realize peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula,” Koo said.

Newly appointed Unification Minister Chung Dong-young emphasized the need to resume dialogue with North Korea when he took office on Friday.

“Restoring disconnected communication channels between North and South Korea is an urgent priority for resuming inter-Korean dialogue and quickly restoring trust,” Chung said during a visit to the border truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ.

In her statement, Kim called for the Unification Ministry to be abolished and said that Chung was “spinning a daydream” with reconciliation efforts.

“There can be no change in our state’s understanding of the enemy and they can not turn back the hands of the clock … which has radically changed the character of the DPRK-ROK relations,” she said.

In October, North Korea revised its Constitution to declare the South a “hostile state” after Kim Jong Un called for the rejection of the long-held official goal of reunification.