North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister blasted the South Korean defense minister as a “scum-like person” for talking about preemptive strikes on the North, warning the South could face “a serious threat” on Sunday.
The North’s weapons tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years have heightened tensions between the two Koreas. According to some observers, her statement could indicate that North Korea will soon perform more substantial nuclear tests and adopt a tougher stance against South Korea.
The ICBM test on March 24, which ended North Korea’s four-year moratorium on large-scale weapons tests, was an embarrassment for South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in, who has worked hard to improve relations between the two countries and find a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis in North Korea.
South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook said on Friday during a visit to the country’s strategic missile command that the government has the capability and readiness to perform precision attacks on North Korea if it detects the North intends to fire missiles at the country. To deal with North Korea’s escalating missile and nuclear threats, Seoul has long maintained a preemptive attack doctrine, but it was unprecedented for a senior Seoul official under the Moon administration to publicly discuss it.
Kim Yo Jong, Kim’s sister, released scathing invective directed against Suh and threats toward Seoul on Sunday.
In a statement broadcast by official media, Kim Yo Jong added, “The foolish and scum-like idiot dares to mention a ‘preemptive attack’ at a nuclear weapons state.” “South Korea may face a significant threat as a result of its military minister’s imprudent words.”
“If South Korea wants to avoid tragedy, it needs to be disciplined,” she said.
Relations with Seoul and Washington are overseen by Kim Yo Jong, a top official in the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. She is the North’s No. 2 official, according to South Korea’s spy service, behind her brother.
Separately, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary on the Workers’ Party’s central committee, cautioned that “under the current situation, any minor misjudgment and poor speech unsettling the other party” might lead to “a dangerous clash and a full-blown war.”
If South Korea attacks North Korea first, Pak claims North Korea will “mercilessly direct military force toward destroying critical objectives in Seoul and the South Korean army.”
In 2018, relations between the Koreas momentarily improved as North Korea quickly reached out to South Korea and the United States, expressing its desire to negotiate over its nuclear program. At the time, Kim Yo Jong was in South Korea for the Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony, and she conveyed her brother’s offer to Moon to visit the North. In 2018, Kim Jong Un and Moon finally met three times.
However, as its larger nuclear negotiation with the United States broke in 2019 owing to disagreements over US-led economic sanctions on the North, North Korea turned a cold shoulder to Moon and severed ties with South Korea.
Kim Yo Jong’s words, according to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, “foreshadow another large military test.” “Pyongyang will blame its nuclear and missile breakthroughs on the US-South Korean alliance, much like Moscow and Beijing try to convince the world that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is somehow the fault of NATO.”
Back-to-back North Korean pronouncements, according to analyst Cheong Seong-Chang of the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, indicate that the country will adopt strong measures toward South Korea. Pyongyang is wary of Seoul’s preemptive strike capacity, he said, because it lacks military assets and the ability to detect South Korean strikes ahead of time.
However, Cheong was concerned that Seoul’s public statements on preemptive strikes would bolster the voices of Pyongyang’s hardliners, heightening tensions between the two Koreas.
Moon’s single five-year term ends in May, and he will be succeeded by conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, who throughout his campaign publicly talked about a preemptive attack on North Korea. His liberal opponents chastised him for aggravating North Korea unnecessarily, but Yoon stated that he will take a moral stance on Pyongyang.
The US has asked North Korea to resume discussions without preconditions, but the North has rejected this invitation, claiming that the US must first end its animosity toward it. As a result of the diplomatic impasse with the United States, Kim Jong Un has frequently stated that he intends to build his nuclear weapons.
According to some observers, the North’s latest missile tests were intended to improve its weapons capabilities, increase its leverage in future negotiations with the US, and strengthen internal loyalty. They believe North Korea will launch another ICBM, a satellite-carrying rocket, or a nuclear device test in the following weeks.
