This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
The North Korean leader’s powerful sister sent a rare New Year message to the South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, claiming that Seoul’s hardline policy was only providing justification for Pyongyang’s development of its self-defense military capabilities.
“I wholeheartedly welcome President Yoon’s announcement of his commitment to make unique contributions to the rapid advancement of our nation’s military strength in the new year,” said Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, as cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency late Tuesday.
In a statement, titled “New Year Message to the President of the Republic of Korea,” the influential sister said: “It is solely due to President Yoon that security instability has become a daily reality in the Republic of Korea,” calling Yoon a “special contributor” for aiding the development of its self-defense military capabilities.
Kim Yo Jong’s comments came as Yoon said in his New Year address Monday that Seoul would “complete” the enhanced extended deterrence system with its ally the United State by June this year.
“We will entirely eliminate the nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea,” Yoon said at that time.
Yoon’s conservative administration has been implementing hardline policy towards Pyongyang, declaring its commitment to proceed reciprocal responses to North Korea’s provocations. The administration reinstated the designation of North Korea as the ‘main enemy’ in its defense documents, a term that had been removed during the tenure of the previous Moon Jae-in administration.
“We have also clearly identified who the real enemy is, enabling us to further sharpen our opposition stance, like a frost-covered spear,” Kim Yo Jong said, adding: “It is a great opportunity for us to have a courageous president who has no worries about the consequences of his actions or words.”
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul who had advised South Korean administrations, said the message could be interpreted as the North’s response to Yoon’s New Year speech on strengthening the allies’ extended deterrence.
“North Korea is explicitly arguing for the need and validity of bolstering its nuclear capabilities as a reaction to Yoon’s hardline approach,” Yang said.
“This signals a strong response to any forthcoming enactments of extended deterrence against North Korea. The extensive ROK-US joint military drills planned in March, before the general election in April, are anticipated to be a crucial juncture,” he added by referring South Korea to its formal name.
In the statement, Kim Yo Jong also made a rare assessment on the South’s former President Moon.
Moon implemented an engagement policy with the North, including having inter-Korean summits in the border village of Panmunjom and Pyongyang in 2018, but North Korea returned to its brinkmanship diplomacy after its high-stake summit with the U.S. collapsed in Hanoi in 2019.
Describing Moon as a “brilliant and cunning person,” Kim Yo Jong said: “It is a significant loss that we squandered a considerable amount of time, unable to fortify our power as we were restrained by Moon Jae-in’s desire for peace.”
“We intend to amplify what was lost during the Moon Jae-in era by tenfold, twentyfold, or even more.”
University of North Korean Studies’ Yang believes the reference to Moon suggests that Pyongyang views the Moon administration as having slowed down the North’s progress in nuclear capabilities through its engagement approach.
“The specific reference to Moon also ties in with the rejection of reconciliation and unification policies, a topic of discussion in the party’s plenary meeting,” Yang said. “This tactic seeks to deflect responsibility for their policies rejecting unification onto both conservative or progressive administrations in the South.”
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Unification Ministry responded to Kim Yo Jong’s statement Wednesday, saying that the statement was a reflection of Pyongyang’s discomfort with Seoul’s “principled approach.”
The ministry’s deputy spokesperson stated that Kim’s statement was merely an “attempt to hide its intention of forcible reunification through military means, and to shift the blame for the escalating inter-Korean tensions onto the ROK,” referring South Korea to its formal name.
