DPRK Kim Yo-jong’s Comment “Yoon Suk-yeol, Those Fools” Draws a Fierce Response from the South Korean Government

Kim Yo-jong (pictured), a deputy director in the Workers’ Party of Korea and also the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, protested South Korea’s separate sanctions against North Korea on November 24 and spoke harshly against President Yoon Suk-yeol. The South Korean government fiercely criticized her remarks claiming it was like “a thief trying to give a scolding.”

In a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency on Thursday, Deputy Director Kim said, “On November 22, those in the South Korean foreign ministry called the exercise of our right to self-defense a ‘provocation’ and used it as an excuse to rattle that they were reviewing additional sanctions of their own,” and criticized it as “disgusting and shameful behavior by the South Koreans, who recited every word the U.S. had said as soon as the U.S. mentioned separate sanctions against North Korea.”

Kim Yo-jong said she had no idea why the South Korean people were just watching the government when “Yoon Suk-yeol and those fools entered office and kept creating risky situations,” and added, “When Moon Jae-in was in office, at least our target wasn’t Seoul.”

She further said, “The more the United States and the South Korean underlings desperately hang on to sanctions, the more they will fuel our hostility and rage, and it will end up a trap that squeezes their necks.”

Kim Yo-jong’s statement was released two days after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) fiercely attacked the U.S. for leading the international community to condemn North Korea’s launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles at the UN Security Council on November 22.

This time, she aimed at South Korea, promoting sanctions of its own against the North, and made blunt remarks on President Yoon. Kim had said, “We just hate Yoon Suk-yeol as a human being” in August, after the president proposed a “bold initiative” to North Korea.

In Thursday’s statement, Kim hinted at her intention to use sanctions against North Korea as an excuse after the ROK-US joint military exercises, which the North had used as an excuse for its provocations, did not proceed in a visibly significant way.

Experts mentioned the possibility of North Korea launching additional intercontinental ballistic missiles and conducting a seventh nuclear test in time for the fifth anniversary of Chairman Kim’s declaration of the “completion of the state nuclear force” on November 29. In the statement released on Tuesday, Kim Yo-jong suggested a “super-strong response to the end.”

Kim’s criticism that the South Korean people were just watching Yoon Suk-yeol and his “idiot” government appears to be an attempt to trigger internal conflict in the South.

Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Woman’s University, spoke on Kim’s claim that at least in the previous government, Seoul was not the North’s target and said, “She confirmed once again that South Korea was the target of a nuclear strike.” Any easing of the hardline versus hardline confrontation between the two Koreas does not seem likely for now as Kim Yo-jong publicly disclosed her strong hostility towards President Yoon in the statement Thursday.

The Ministry of Unification released a statement expressing “strong regret” on Kim’s remarks, which tried to blame South Korea, and described her attitude as “a thief trying to do the scolding,” The ministry also said, “We fiercely condemn any foul attempt to instigate anti-government protests and threaten our system.”

In a regular press briefing, Lim Soo-suk, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, “We are continuing to review further sanctions against North Korea,” and added, “The sensitive response from North Korea shows that our efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program is having a considerable impact on the North Korean regime.”