Tag: Kim Yo-jong

Kim Yo-jong Claims North Korea Will Use the Pacific as Its Firing Range

I wonder if this a threat to fire missiles over Japan again into the greater Pacific Ocean?:

Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, again blamed South Korea and the U.S. for fueling tensions on the peninsula with their plans for combined military exercises.

“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S.,” she said in a statement through KCNA. 

She added that North Korea is closely observing the movements of U.S. strategic assets, vowing to take “corresponding counteraction” to what it deems as a threat to its security.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Blasts South Korean Analysts Who Doubt Their Reconnaissance Satellite Technology

The bad cop of North Korea is back at it blasting South Korea:

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, speaks at a mass political gathering in Pyongyang in August that was broadcast by the state-controlled Korean Central Television. Kim issued a vitriolic statement on Tuesday blasting South Koreans who questioned North Korea's reconnaissance and missile reentry capabilities. [YONHAP]
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, speaks at a mass political gathering in Pyongyang in August that was broadcast by the state-controlled Korean Central Television. Kim issued a vitriolic statement on Tuesday blasting South Koreans who questioned North Korea’s reconnaissance and missile reentry capabilities. [YONHAP]

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday blasted South Koreans who questioned Pyongyang’s reconnaissance capabilities in response to its launch of a test satellite in a statement carried by state-controlled media on Tuesday.    
   
Kim Yo-jong, who serves as deputy director of the ruling Workers’ Party propaganda department, also warned that the regime would soon conduct a long-distance missile launch to silence critics who doubt the regime’s ability to launch a nuclear weapon that can re-enter the atmosphere without disintegrating, according to Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency.  
   
In her vitriolic statement, the North Korean leader’s sister said that Sunday’s spy satellite test involved two missiles, and that the first was intended “only to send signals to the transmitter and test whether the ground control station could trace and receive them.” 

Kim also bristled at comments by South Korean defense analysts who said the low-resolution images of Seoul and Incheon taken from the North Korean test satellite demonstrated the shortcomings of North Korean reconnaissance technology.  
   
“I really want to slap these bastards who are rattling on but don’t know where to start,” the KCNA reported Kim as saying.

Joong Ang Ilbo

Here is her most interesting comment which I said earlier was the real reason for their satellite launch rhetoric:

“It seems others want to disparage our strategic weapon capabilities by saying it can’t be demonstrated through a lofted-angle launch and must be proven through a normal-angle launch,” she said, adding that the latter was “something that may happen soon.” 

The spy satellite launch claims by the Kim regime is to set conditions to test an ICBM over Japan and claim it is a space launch. This gives their defenders in Moscow and Beijing a reason to defend them after they conduct a thinly veiled ICBM test at a nominal trajectory unlike their prior tests which were all lofted trajectories. This will further inflame tensions which is what they want while further testing their ICBM technologies.

Upcoming Book “The Sister” Provides Biography of Most Powerful Woman in North Korea

Here is a new book I will need to check out:

Sung-Yoon Lee’s book, titled, “The Sister,” will be published by Pan Macmillan on June 15, 2023.

Sung-Yoon Lee, the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation professor in Korean Studies and assistant professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University near Boston, said that Kim Yo-jong has been more visible and empowered to speak on behalf of her brother since 2020. 

“She is Kim Jong-un’s most trusted aide, adviser, deputy, spokesperson, attack dog and confidante,” he said in a recent email interview with The Korea Times. “In their body language when they are in close proximity, I see genuine mutual trust and affection. She is not a mere ‘secretary.'” 

He said now is the time for the world to pay greater attention to the ambitious younger Kim because of her growing influence in her country. 

Her multiple crucial roles in the North ― as the deputy director of the Workers’ Party’s Publicity and Information Department, alternate member of the Politburo and member of the State Affairs Commission, among others ― have convinced Lee to believe that Kim Yo-jong could lead the country in case her brother is incapacitated for any reason. 

If this happens, he said, Kim Yo-jong will succeed her brother to become the supreme leader of the impoverished state because she is the only adult who is part of the Mount Paektu bloodline, which refers to the three-generation lineage of North Korea’s leadership, descending from founder Kim Il-sung. “There is no doubt that Yo-jong is leadership material,” said Lee. 

Kim Jong-un is believed to have children, although no further details about them are known, but they are too young to become leaders, said Lee. 

He ruled out Kim Jong-un’s brother Jong-chol from the possible successor list. 

“Kim Jong-chol has stayed out of public view since Jong-un ascended to the throne in the wake of their father’s death in December 2011. Jong-chol has long been known to harbor no interest in politics, whereas Yo-jong has been known since her childhood to be ambitious and bossy,” he said. “More importantly, Yo-jong has participated very visibly in policymaking at least since February 2018 when she visited South Korea as her brother’s special envoy.” 

Lee, an expert on North Korea’s leadership, is the author of the new book, “The Sister,” which unravels the rise of Kim Yo-jong. The book will be published on June 15 next year.
“I do reveal a few facts of policy relevance in my book,” he said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Claims North Korea Will Never Attack South Korea

Hard to believe anything that comes from the Kim regime when these are the people that can invent the flimsiest of excuses to launch provocations:

 The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said South Korea is no match for her nuclear-armed country, as she reiterated Pyongyang’s position that Seoul is not a “principal enemy,” according to state media Tuesday.

Kim Yo-jong again took issue with the South Korean defense chief’s talk in public last week of his troops’ “preemptive strike” capabilities, boasting repeatedly about Pyongyang’s nuclear combat force.

Kim, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea who is known to be in charge of inter-Korean affairs, described the minister’s remarks as an “irretrievable very big mistake.” 

“If anyone does not provoke us, we will never strike it before anything else,” she said in her second press statement in two days carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

“We will not fire even a single bullet or shell toward South Korea. It is because we do not regard it as match for our armed forces,” Kim added, emphasizing once again that the North is a nuclear weapons state. 

“In other words, it means that unless the South Korean army takes any military action against our state, it will not be regarded as a target of our attack,” she said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Blasts ROK Defense Minister for Preemptive Strike Comments

It is pretty clear the Kim regime has no shame when they are bashing the ROK Defense Minister for provocative comments, but they are the ones firing missiles everywhere and likely preparing for yet another nuclear test. If the North Koreans weren’t conducting all their provocations there would be no need for the ROK to develop a preemptive strike capability:

Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister and vice department director of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, is pictured as she visits Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Hanoi, in this file photo dated March 2, 2019. 

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un lambasted South Korea’s defense chief for talk of “preemptive strike” capabilities and warned that the South may face a “serious threat” for such a “senseless” remark, according to Pyongyang’s state media Sunday.

In her rare press statement issued the previous day, Kim Yo-jong called South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook a “senseless and scum-like guy” for mentioning a preemptive strike at a “nuclear weapons state.”

Last Friday, Suh publicly stressed that his troops have the capabilities to “accurately and swiftly” strike the origin of North Korea’s missile firing as well as command and support facilities in the case of clear signs of a launch toward the South.

Yonhap

You can read more about Kim Yo-jong’s screed at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Believed to Have Become a Member of the Worker’s Party’s Political Bureau

Kim Yo-jong is back in the news again with another alleged promotion within the Worker’s Party:

In this photo captured from North Korea’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station, Kim Yo-jong (2nd from L), the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attends a memorial event marking the 10th anniversary of the death of her father, Kim Jong-il, held in Pyongyang on Dec. 17, 2021.

 Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister, is believed to have been promoted to a higher official position, according to a North Korean media report Saturday.

In the report on a memorial event for late former leader Kim Jong-il held a day earlier, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) listed Kim Yo-jong alongside members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party as having attended the ceremony.

Kim was listed between eight sitting members of the Political Bureau and other alternate members, suggesting she may have been named a member or an alternate member of the organ.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

NIS: Reports of Kim Yo-jong Staging A Coup Against Brother Are Untrue

It looks like some media outlets fell for some fake news:

South Korea’s spy agency said Sunday media reports of North Korean leader’s sister succeeding coup against her brother are not true at all. 

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) dismissed reports that claimed Kim Yo-jong ousted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after a coup. A separate government official also said such reports are not true. 

Citing a report from US-based tabloid “Globe,” some news outlets here said Kim Yo-jong staged a coup between May 6 and June 5, and removed Kim Jong-un from the post. 

The report claimed Kim Jong-un at recent events is actually an impostor, pointing out that his appearance is different than the past, with substantial weight loss. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Wants a Korean War Peace Treaty Is the U.S. & ROK Capitulate to Their Demands

Here is what Kim Yo-jong had to say about the recent comments for a Korean War peace treaty by ROK president Moon Jae-in:

Kim Yo-jong

 The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Saturday that her country will take steps to repair ties with South Korea, and may even discuss another summit between their leaders, if the South drops what she described as hostility and double standards. 

The comments by Kim Yo Jong followed a similar statement she issued Friday that the North was willing to resume talks with the South if certain conditions were met. 

Analysts say North Korea is using South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s desire for inter-Korean engagement to pressure Seoul to persuade the Biden administration to ease crippling U.S.-led sanctions over the North’s nuclear weapons program or suspend combined U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link, but North Korea knows time is short to get a deal done with no guarantee of the Korean left maintaining the ROK Presidency next Spring. With the various negative issues surrounding the Biden administration, the Kim regime maybe thinking the U.S. might be eager for a foreign policy “win”, by cutting a deal with North Korea for little to nothing in return. We have seen past U.S. Presidents play this card before.

Kim Yo-jong Warns ROK Against Conducting Military Drills With the U.S.

Is this a sign that the Moon administration is wavering on conducting the upcoming combined exercise with the U.S.?:

Kim Yo-jong

South Korea said Monday it’ll keep pushing to improve ties and resume talks with rival North Korea, despite the North’s threat to rekindle animosities if Seoul holds its summertime military drills with the United States.

On Sunday night, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned the drills would seriously undermine efforts to restore mutual trust between the Koreas and becloud prospects for better ties if the training is launched as scheduled this month. Her statement raised a question about the sincerity of North Korea’s recent decision to reopen long-stalled communication channels with South Korea. 

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Monday the exact timing, size and other details of the drills haven’t been fixed and that they were the issues that must be determined by South Korean and U.S. authorities. Spokesman Boo Seung-Chan repeated his previous statement that Seoul and Washington are examining factors like the pandemic’s current status, diplomat efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and South Korea-U.S. military readiness.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Sharply Criticizes Any Expectations of Talks with the U.S.

Kim Yo-jong is out playing the bad cop again:

Kim Yo-jong

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Tuesday that the United States has “wrong” expectations after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Kim’s comments about dialogue with the U.S. an “interesting signal.”

The statement from Kim Yo-jong also came a day after U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim said the U.S. has offered to meet with the North “anywhere, anytime without preconditions” and looks forward to Pyongyang responding positively to the overtures.

“I heard the news that the U.S. National Security Advisor had mentioned that he regards the position towards the U.S. as an ‘interesting signal,'” she said in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency said.

“A Korean proverb says that ‘In a dream, what counts most is to read it, not to have it,'” she said. “It seems that the U.S. may interpret the situation in such a way as to seek a comfort for itself. The expectation, which they chose to harbour the wrong way, would plunge them into a greater disappointment.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but like I have said before, the Kim regime will meet when they feel like they will get something of value out of it for little to nothing in return. So far the Biden administration is not willing to offer that.