Kim Yo-jong “The Idea that We Can’t Launch a Satellite When Everyone Else Is Doing It Is Shameless”

Kim Yo-jong, deputy director of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Korean Central TV / Yonhap News

On June 1, Kim Yo-jong, deputy director of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, condemned the United States and said, “Insisting on the irrational idea that we alone cannot launch a satellite--something everyone else is doing--using the UN Security Council resolution banning the use of ballistic rocket technology for any purpose as an excuse is a serious violation and unfair suppression of our country’s right to use space. It is clearly shameless and wrong.”

Deputy Director Kim made the argument in a statement titled, “No One Can Deny Our Sovereign Right to Launch a Satellite,” released by the Korean Central News Agency Thursday, claiming, “The United States blatantly revealed its inherent hostility against our republic by raising an issue with the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite, which is an exercise of the right to self-defense of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).”

North Korea censured the U.S. White House, which denounced the North’s failed launch of Chollima-1, a rocket loaded with the military reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1, for violating a UN Security Council resolution. The North tried to justify the latest launch as an exercise of its right to self-defense.

Kim Yo-jong argued that the U.S. was applying double standards when it came to the satellite launch. She said, “If our satellite launch must be condemned, then the countries that have already launched thousands of satellites should all be condemned starting with the U.S. It is nothing other than a fallacious and self-contradicting argument.” She further argued, “This country called the United States is a gang of robbers that would cry that it’s illegal and a threat even if we sent a satellite into orbit tied to a balloon.”

The deputy director of the Workers’ Party of Korea continued her fierce criticism of the U.S. She said, “The U.S. has packed the airspace above the Korean Peninsula with all kinds of spy assets, such as reconnaissance satellites and high-altitude unmanned surveillance vehicles, and is even at this minute busy anxiously monitoring our every actions. Such a country raising an issue with our launch of a military reconnaissance satellite is truly shameless and unreasonable.”

The DPRK released two pictures of the launch of the rocket carrying a military spy satellite from the previous day along with Deputy Director Kim Yo-jong’s statement. They showed a rocket soaring into the air amid flames and nearby facilities from a location believed to be the new launch site, quickly set up in the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri, Cholsan County in North Pyongan Province. The pictures hinted at an intention to ensure credibility by clearing up any suspicions about the satellite launch.

The North Korean leader’s younger sister reaffirmed the North’s determination to make another attempt to send its first military spy satellite into orbit. She said, “I can definitely say that a military reconnaissance satellite of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will accurately enter into orbit and conduct its mission in the near future.” The previous day, the National Aerospace Development Administration of the DPRK announced that they would attempt another launch soon after conducting tests in several areas.

Kim Yo-jong said, “Reading the minds of the U.S. and its followers, so nervous at our military reconnaissance satellite, we reaffirmed that the enemies most feared our possession of excellent reconnaissance and intelligence means including the spy satellite,” and concluded, “Therefore, we think that we should put in a much larger effort into developing reconnaissance methods.”

Once again, Deputy Director Kim said that North Korea would not engage in dialogue with the U.S. and South Korea. “Again, we would like to clearly warn the U.S., which is taking advantage of this opportunity and trying to blur the eyes and ears of the international society with appealing mention of dialogue, such as a ‘door to diplomacy’ or a ‘serious negotiation,’” she said, and argued, “We have nothing to discuss with and feel no need for dialogue with the U.S. and its pawns that have a habit of chattering about the ‘end of regime,’ and ‘overthrowing the system.’”

In a summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and President Yoon Suk-yeol in April, the two leaders reaffirmed their determination to engage in diplomacy with North Korea as the only means to achieve sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula and urged Pyongyang to return to the negotiation table. They announced that they would firmly promote diplomacy and no-strings-attached dialogue with North Korea to make progress toward the common goal--the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. President Biden also mentioned the “end of regime” if North Korea engaged in a nuclear attack.

Kim Yo-jong said, “We will continue to respond in our own way in a more aggressive attitude to make it inevitable for them to acknowledge how dangerous it is to continue to confront us,” and added, “We are prepared to do anything it takes to defend our sovereign right and interests.”

She said that the North was well aware that the confrontation with the U.S. could continue into the long term and said the North would do all it can to improve war deterrence in comprehensive ways with the predicted threats and challenges in mind. She warned, “If the U.S. and its followers continue to engage in reckless actions violating our sovereign right, we will not just stand and watch.”