Kim Yo-jong Rejects Yoon's Bold Proposal as "The Height of Foolishness"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] On the 19th, North Korea expressed its rejection of President Yoon Suk-yeol's denuclearization roadmap, the "Bold Initiative."

Our government stated that it is "deeply regrettable."

Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of North Korea and Deputy Department Director in charge of inter-Korean and external affairs, said in a statement released through the Korean Central News Agency on the 19th that regarding the Bold Initiative announced by President Yoon in his August 15 Liberation Day speech, "We do not know what noisy plans they will come up with next to knock on the door, but we clearly state that we will never engage with them."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This is the first time North Korea has officially responded to the Bold Initiative proposal, which President Yoon reiterated at his 100-day inauguration press conference on the 17th following his August 15 Liberation Day speech.

North Korea launched two cruise missiles on the 17th, the 100th day of President Yoon's inauguration, and with Deputy Director Kim's statement on this day, it is interpreted that North Korea has clearly expressed its rejection of the South's proposal.

Deputy Director Kim criticized, "Yoon Suk-yeol's Bold Initiative is as unrealistic as trying to dry up the deep blue ocean to create a mulberry field, the height of foolishness." He disparaged the Bold Initiative as a "copy" of the Lee Myung-bak administration's North Korea policy, 'Denuclearization, Openness, 3000.'

He evaluated, "It is nothing more than a copy of the 'Denuclearization, Openness, 3000' plan that Lee Myung-bak, the villain, proposed over ten years ago, which was abandoned as a product of fratricidal confrontation rather than gaining public attention."

In the same statement, Deputy Director Kim also claimed that the location from which the two cruise missiles were launched on the 17th was not Oncheon, Pyongannam-do, as announced by the South, but 'Geumseong Bridge' in Anju City.

This was interpreted as a tactic to criticize the South's missile detection and tracking capabilities. Our military authorities are known to maintain the position that the launch site was Oncheon.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Kwon Young-se, Minister of Unification, said at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee plenary session, "We deeply regret the rude and unrefined expressions used to distort and criticize the Bold Initiative," adding, "Such actions are not good for North Korea itself nor for peace on the Korean Peninsula."