Senior North Korean official Kim Yo-jong, sister of communist dictator Kim Jong-un, published an infuriated screed on Monday condemning leftist South Korean President Lee Jae-myung for making overtures to Pyongyang seeking peace, declaring, “we have no interest” in any peace proposal from Seoul.
The statement was the first from the repressive North Korean regime acknowledging that Lee is president. Lee won the special election on June 3 prompted by the impeachment and ouster of conservative predecessor Yoon Suk-yeol, whose political demise followed an unsuccessful attempt to establish military rule in the country in December. Lee ran against Yoon in 2022 and narrowly lost, lending him high name recognition in the country and allowing him a comfortable victory in the June special election.
Lee, a longtime member of the National Assembly and leader of the left-wing Democratic Party prior to becoming president, announced nearly immediately after becoming president that he would abandon Yoon’s anti-communist stance and seek dialogue and negotiation with Pyongyang. Among his first actions in office were to pause loudspeaker broadcasts across the inter-Korean border. For decades, conservative governments have outraged the ruling communists of the North by installing loudspeakers along the border and using them to broadcast banned news, pop music, and messages of hope to the oppressed people of the country. Successive left-wing presidencies have canceled the broadcasts, only for them to return under conservative leaders.
Kim Yo-jong gave Lee no credit in her missive for pausing the loudspeaker broadcasts or seeking dialogue, denouncing South Korea as a puppet regime of America’s and describing diplomatic engagements between the two Koreas as a “daydream.”
“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 Yo-jong declared in her statement, published by the state propaganda network the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“If the ROK [South Korea], which had stoked the atmosphere of extreme confrontation in the past after unilaterally declaring the DPRK [North Korea] as its principal enemy,” Kim wrote, “expected that it could reverse all the results it had made with a few sentimental words, nothing is more serious miscalculation than it.”
“The DPRK could reach a very important historical conclusion that the ROK, whether it advocates the ‘democracy’ or assumes the mask of ‘conservativeness,’ can never be the partner of reconciliation and cooperation,” Kim continued, “and throw away the preconceived idea contradictory to the reality after breaking away with a very tired and uncomfortable history fettered by the rhetorical expression of fellow countrymen.”
Kim wrote that ending the loudspeaker broadcasts was “not the work worthy of appreciation [sic]” because the broadcasts should never have happened. Absent from her criticism was any mention of North Korea’s outrageous actions against the South that prompted the return of the broadcasts under Yoon, such as the dumping of hundreds of balloons carrying garbage and feces all over South Korea.
Kim appeared to mock Lee as “enslaved to the departed spirit of unification by absorption,” meaning the potential for the impoverished North to become part of the wealthy South under a free government, and condemned his alleged “blind trust to the ROK-U.S. alliance.”
“No matter how desperately the Lee Jae Myung government may try to imitate the fellow countrymen and pretend they do all sorts of righteous things,” Kim concluded, “there can be no change in our state’s understanding of the enemy and they can not turn back the hands of the clock of the history.”
Lee’s presidential office replied to the missive by stating that it was “closely observing the North’s position” and emphasizing the significance of Pyongyang recognizing Lee as president, downplaying the enthusiastic rejection of his policies. The presidential office also appeared to blame Yoon for the rejection, claiming “years of hostility and confrontation have built a high wall of distrust between the South and the North.”
“The government will continue to take consistent actions to realize a Korean Peninsula free from hostility and war,” Lee’s office nonetheless insisted in its statement.
The Lee administration also acknowledged North Korea’s anger at routine military exercises between Seoul and Washington, suggesting Lee may be open to rescheduling them to placate the North Korean communist regime. The exercises, dubbed “Ulchi Freedom Shield,” typically take place in August. Lee’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young announced on Monday he would ask Lee to consider a plan to “adjust” the exercises, without elaborating on whether that would mean canceling them, postponing them, or limiting their scale. Lee’s office stated following Chung’s remark that it was still considering any further decision on the war games, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Chung also addressed Kim’s comments, claiming they were “more moderate” than past North Korean statements, which often call for the complete destruction of South Korea.
A month into his tenure, in early July, Lee reiterated his desire to impose a more conciliatory foreign policy towards North Korea. Lee told reporters that he was hoping to spark a “virtuous cycle of peace” between the Koreas that would slowly erode distrust, hatred, and ongoing hostilities. North and South Korea have been technically in a state of war since 1950.
“We should improve relations with North Korea based on fixed coordination with the United States,” Lee said. “Completely cutting off dialogue is a foolish act.”
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