Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, mocked US hopes for talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program on Tuesday, at a time when Washington and Seoul agreed to consider canceling a controversial working group that had been formed to coordinate the two countries’ policy towards Pyongyang. The latter irritated.
Kim – a senior official in North Korea’s ruling party – issued a statement in the state media, saying that the United States “apparently interprets signals from Pyongyang in a way that will lead to disappointment.” Read also Stratfor: What does North Korea want from its first Biden-era missile test? “Office 39″… An investigation reveals in detail North Korea’s fraud methods to finance its nuclear project National Interest: Is the North Korean Air Force resorting to kamikaze?
The sister of the North Korean leader was responding to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who said Sunday that he saw an “important signal” in a recent speech by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about preparing for confrontation or dialogue with the United States.
“It seems that the United States may interpret the situation in a way that it comforts itself,” the North Korean official said in her statement, published by the Korean Central News Agency.
At the beginning of last month, North Korea accused US President Joe Biden of pursuing a hostile policy, after Biden said in a speech in Congress that he would use “diplomacy in parallel with severe deterrence”, in order to contain Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
US envoy
The statement by the sister of the North Korean leader came at a time when the US special envoy to North Korea, Sung Kim, continues his visit to South Korea, where he is expected to meet today with President Moon Jae-in and Minister of Unification Affairs Lee In-young. On Monday, the US envoy said he was ready to meet with the North Koreans “anywhere, anytime without preconditions,” adding that he was looking forward to a “positive response soon.”
The US envoy’s proposal came 3 days after the North Korean leader said that his country should be ready for “dialogue as well as confrontation” with the United States, in Pyongyang’s first reaction to the Biden administration’s policy toward North Korea.
The US administration pledged to adopt a “practical and adapted approach”, especially at the diplomatic level, aimed particularly at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and ballistic programs.
It should be noted that negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic programs have been suspended since the failure of the summit that brought former US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi in February 2019.