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After a meeting in Washington between the leaders of the United States and South Korea, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned that the rapprochement between the two countries on issues of defense cooperation would lead to a “more serious danger.” Biden of being “an old man with no future.”
During the meeting, President Joe Biden and his counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea that if it used its military arsenal, it would face a nuclear response and the “end” of its regime. In the so-called Washington Declaration, both heads Government officials ratified US nuclear protection of South Korea and the regular deployment of US strategic assets in the area, including a nuclear ballistic submarine.
In Pyongyang’s first response to the allied summit in Washington, the North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, said her country remains convinced that its nuclear deterrence strategy “must be further refined.”
“The more the enemies insist on conducting nuclear war exercises and the more nuclear assets they deploy in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula, the stronger the exercise of our right to self-defense will become,” Kim’s influential sister said, according to state media reported.
The influential sister added that the plan will only “place peace and security in Northeast Asia and the world in graver danger.”
North Korea has spent years defying international sanctions and continues to develop its nuclear and weapons program, and has warned on several occasions that it is not considering parting with this arsenal.
Pyongyang has launched a record number of launches in 2023, in open defiance of sanctions, including a solid-fueled ballistic missile that marks a breakthrough in its military capabilities. In response, the United States and South Korea have increased their defense cooperation, staging joint military exercises involving modern stealth fighters and high-level strategic materiel.
Kim Yo Jong downplays Biden
In his usual tone, Kim Yo Jong called Biden’s criticism of Pyongyang “ridiculous coming from a person his age” and called the 80-year-old American leader “an old man with no future.” He also said it was “too much for him to carry out his remaining two years in office” and called the South Korean president a “fool.”
Seoul condemned Kim Yo Jong’s “insane” statement, saying it reflected “nervousness and frustration at the US-Korea alliance’s drastically strengthened nuclear deterrence,” according to the Unification Ministry.
The South Korean statement added that the “foul language” used by Kim’s sister shows “the low level of the North.” Statements by Kim’s sister indicate that military tensions around the Korean peninsula could “drastically escalate to a level similar to 2017,” she told AFP Cheong Seong-chang of the Center for North Korean Studies. from the Sejong Institute.
The expert also stated that these words also represent Pyongyang’s “strong protest of Biden’s statements that the North would face the end of the regime if it carries out a nuclear attack.”
