|
Post by Admin on Jun 4, 2020 19:09:34 GMT
South Korea said Thursday it plans to ban activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border – hours after Kim Jong Un’s sister threatened to cancel a recent bilateral military agreement with Seoul if the activity continues. Kim Yo Jong, the Hermit Kingdom’s leader’s younger sister and key adviser, issued the warning after propaganda leaflets concealed in 500,000 balloons were sent across the border this week by several North Korean defectors, the Guardian reported. The leaflets assailed the despot’s nuclear threats, according to the Yonhap news agency. Previous messages also have slammed the rogue regime’s human rights record. Kim’s sister warned of the possible scrapping of the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement that promised to eliminate practical threats of war, saying that pact was “hardly of any value,” according to Reuters. She also warned that Pyongyang would withdraw from the Kaesong industrial project and shut down the joint liaison office in the North’s border city unless Seoul put a stop to such activity. Kim Yo Jong, who serves unofficially as her brother’s chief of staff, serves formally as a vice director of the ruling Workers’ Party’s powerful Central Committee. The “anti-DPRK leaflets” — titled “Defectors from the North” — have been dumped along the North’s side of the heavily fortified DMZ. DPRK, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is the official name of North Korea. “If such an act of evil intention committed before our eyes is left to take its own course under the pretext of ‘freedom of individuals’ and ‘freedom of expression’, the south Korean authorities must face the worst phase shortly,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 14, 2020 19:52:11 GMT
South Korea convened an emergency security meeting on Sunday after the sister of North Korea’s leader threatened military action against South Korea in the latest escalation of tensions between the two neighbors. Kim Yo Jong, a trusted aide to her brother, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, said she would leave the right to take the next step of retaliation against South Korea to North Korea’s military in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA on Saturday. Kim, who has gained new prominence in North Korea's power structure, did not specify what the next action could be, or when exactly it will be taken, but she added: “I feel it is high time to surely break with the South Korean authorities. We will soon take the next action.” A spokesman for The Blue House, South Korea's presidential office, said Sunday that the country's national security council held an emergency video conference to review the situation on the Korean peninsula and to discuss how to best to respond. The Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said in a statement the South and the North Koreas must do their best to abide by all inter-Korean agreements. South Korea's Defense Ministry said separately that it was seriously assessing the situation and carefully monitoring North Korean movements. “South Korean military is maintaining resolute military readiness to respond to all situations,” the ministry's statement said. Kim's statement Saturday, followed her announcement earlier this week that North Korea was suspending all communication lines with South Korea, a move analysts believe could be an attempt to manufacture a crisis and force concessions from its neighbor. North Korea said it was angered by defectors who have fled to the South and the routine flying of balloons over the border carrying propaganda leaflets. South Korea responded by saying it would take legal action against two organizations that conduct such operations. Kim Jin Ah, a North Korean expert at Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a government research center, in Seoul, said North Korea is using propaganda leaflets as an excuse to break “the doldrum” in its negotiations with the U.S. Nuclear talks with the Washington remain deadlocked after Kim Jong Un's last summit with President Donald Trump in 2019 broke down without an agreement and North Korea desperately needs relief in the face of harsh U.S.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 16, 2020 19:11:56 GMT
North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office on its side of the border on Tuesday, triggering broad international condemnation after days of virulent rhetoric from Pyongyang. The demolition came after Kim Yo Jong -- the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- said at the weekend the "useless north-south joint liaison office" would soon be seen "completely collapsed". Footage of the explosion released by Seoul's presidential Blue House showed a blast rolling across several buildings just across the border in Kaesong, with a nearby tower partially collapsing as clouds of smoke rose into the sky. Analysts say Pyongyang may be seeking to manufacture a crisis to increase pressure on Seoul while nuclear negotiations with Washington are at a standstill. After an emergency meeting, the National Security Council said it would "react strongly" if Pyongyang "continues to take steps that aggravate the situation". "All responsibility for repercussions stemming from this action falls squarely on the North," it added. The US, European Union and Russia all called for restraint. A State Department spokesperson said Washington urges the North to "refrain from further counterproductive actions", while the Kremlin called the escalation a "concern' and said it would be monitoring closely.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 19, 2020 21:16:36 GMT
Kim Yo Jong appears to be stepping out on her own recently — without her elder brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by her side — which analysts said may indicate that she could be moving into a bigger role within the country’s leadership structure.
In the last week, Pyongyang has issued threats and directives under the younger Kim’s name alone — a development analysts said was striking.
“We’re seeing a lot of big statements coming out of Kim Yo Jong,” said John Park, director of the Korea Project at the Harvard Kennedy School. This indicates that her role is not just ceremonial and that she has been “chronically underestimated,” he added.
“By letting his sister Kim Yo-jong lead the highly visible charge against the South, he is likely laying the groundwork for her elevation to a more senior position within the regime,” Hribernik wrote in a note this week before North Korea blew up its joint liaison office with South Korea.
There’s precedent for this since Kim Jong Un notably led the bombardment of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 in order to boost his standing with the military before taking over as Supreme Leader in 2011, Hribernik noted.
Little is known about Kim Yo Jong, but it is well documented that she spent some time in Switzerland with her brother Kim Jong Un. Both were born to the same mother, a consort to the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Un’s sister is ‘on a roll,’ expert says of North Korea’s liaison office blast Analysts say the siblings living together for a number of years in the same place outside their home country has fostered close ties between the two and that is now manifesting in the younger sister’s elevation on a political level.
“I think what we’re seeing now is essentially a reflection of a partnership that she has with her brother,” said Park. “It looks like there is this kind of power partnership between the two that became more visible.”
The younger Kim first came into the global limelight when she attended the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. This made her the first from the Kim family to set foot in South Korea.
Later, the younger Kim accompanied her brother when he attended summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Although the younger Kim is a known factor and has been the de facto number two in North Korea for several years, she only began to assert herself this past March, said Lee Sung Yoon, Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 21, 2020 19:17:59 GMT
Rocketman better watch out. His kid sister, nicknamed “Princess” in North Korea and sometimes referred to as the “Twisted Sister,” is now acting more like the Terminator. Kim Yo Jong, all regal cheekbones and icy glare, ordered a joint liaison office for both North and South Korea blown up last week as part of an aggressive charge against South Korea — and by extension the United States. She also slammed the leader of South Korea and threatened military action in a sudden seizing of power that may or may not be authorized by her big brother. Some wonder if she is the Hermit Kingdom’s new power player, and want to know her endgame. “From what I’ve observed she is cold and ruthless and haughty,” said Suzanne Scholte, the American founding co-chair of Free North Korea Radio and president of the Washington DC Defense Forum. “Her new aggressiveness is part of the consolidation and solidification of power. Kim Jong Un has to show that if something were to happen to him, there’s a successor and that the Kim family … bloodline is still in power.” Once described only as her brother’s close aide, one who would fetch him a crystal ashtray while he smoked, Kim Yo Jong has made herself a force to be reckoned with almost overnight in Pyongyang. “There is no No. 2 in North Korea but she is acting like a No. 2,” David Maxwell, a retired US Army Special Forces colonel and North Korea expert, told the Post. “It’s very unlikely she could be doing this on her own. Kim must have given her the authority. That provides him with options for the future.”
|
|