Pyongyang calls Seoul’s resumption of military maneuvers on border “suicidal hysteria”

8 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, on Monday described South Korea’s resumption of live-fire military exercises near the de facto border separating the two Koreas as “suicidal hysteria” and warned that such measures could provoke a “military response” from Pyongyang.

He said that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been causing an increase in tension on the Korean peninsula with his “war drills” in an attempt to “escape from the political crisis” he has at the national level. In this regard, he recalled that this type of maneuver comes months after Seoul completely suspended the inter-Korean agreement reached in 2018, which prohibited this type of maneuver.

“The question is why the enemy has launched such manoeuvres near the border. It is a kind of suicidal hysteria, which could lead to disaster,” he said, according to information collected by the North Korean news agency KCNA. In this regard, he said that these manoeuvres constitute an “inexcusable and explicit provocation” against the Asian country.

He also said that South Korea has been trying to destabilize the security situation in the region as a means of distracting from domestic politics, which is undergoing a serious crisis.

On Yoon’s popularity, he stressed that more than a million people in South Korea are in favour of his impeachment and have signed a petition on the South Korean Parliament’s website in favour of starting an impeachment process. “One cannot but accept that the president, elected by the people, is making the country hang in the balance,” he said.

“If they are judged to have violated North Korea’s sovereignty to commit an act that constitutes a declaration of war, our armed forces will carry out missions in accordance with our Constitution,” he said, although Seoul insists that its maneuvers fall within standard parameters.