Kim Yo-jong Expressed Strong Regrets to South Korea's "Betrayal" after the South Decided to Resume Military Exercises with the U.S.

[경향신문]

Kim Yo-jong, deputy director of the Workers’ Party of Korea, at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam in March 2019. Yonhap News

Deputy Director of the Workers’ Party of Korea Kim Yo-jong released a statement on August 10, the first day of the preliminary training before the R.O.K.-U.S. joint military exercises, and said, “I express strong regret for the treacherous behavior of the South Korean authorities.”

In the statement, Kim said, “Despite the constant denunciation and rejection from inside and outside the country, in the end, the United States and the South Korean military launched a joint military drill that would further fuel the instability in the region,” and added, “The joint military exercise is the most concentrated expression of the hostile policy toward North Korea implemented by the U.S., which is trying to crush our nation by force. It is a self-destructive act that threatens the safety of our people and puts the situation on the Korean Peninsula at risk. It is an act that can never be welcomed, and one that will most definitely pay a price.”

Kim also said, “Regardless of the scale of the training and in what form it proceeds, the latest combined military training is aggressive in nature as a war demonstration, a preliminary drill for a nuclear war aimed to perfect preparations in implementing strategic plans with a preemptive attack on us at its center.” She continued to condemn the U.S. as the one responsible for destroying peace and stability in the region by stubbornly pushing ahead with an exercise for a war of aggression at a sensitive time as now, when the world’s attention is focused on the development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and criticized that “diplomatic involvement” and “unconditional dialogue” mentioned by the incumbent U.S. administration were merely hypocrisy to conceal Washington’s true intent of aggression.

Kim further said, “The current situation once again proves that we were right over and over again to fiercely develop our national defense capabilities,” and argued, “As long as the U.S. military remains in South Korea, the root (of conflicts), which regularly aggravates the situation on the Korean Peninsula, will never be removed.” She also said, “We have already made it clear that we will deal with the U.S. based on the principle of hardline for hardline, good for good,” and explained, “In order to respond to the ever-increasing military threats from the U.S., we will accelerate efforts to strengthen absolute deterrence, in other words, our national defense and strong preemptive strike capabilities to quickly respond to any military actions against us.”

Kim concluded the statement by mentioning that she was delegated the authority to release it, implying that the message came from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.