Kim Yo-jong Reappears: "Forcing Denuclearization, the Most Hostile Act"

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un and Deputy Director of the Workers' Party, reacted strongly against the reaffirmation of the 'complete denuclearization of North Korea' by the foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan, calling it "the most hostile act that denies the sovereignty of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), forces the abandonment of its constitution, and imposes its system."

On the 9th, the Korean Central News Agency reported that Deputy Director Kim issued a statement the previous day titled "The anachronistic obsession with denuclearization by the U.S., Japan, and South Korea cannot affect our country's status in any way." This was in response to the term 'denuclearization' included in the joint statement of the foreign ministers' meeting of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan held on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on the 3rd.

Deputy Director Kim harshly criticized, saying, "Our denuclearization is nothing but an unrealizable delusion," and added, "Still wandering in the failed dreams of the past and constantly uttering 'complete denuclearization' is akin to revealing to the world how outdated and irrational their political judgment is."

She emphasized repeatedly, "The status of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, established alongside the existence of practical and very strong nuclear deterrence and permanently enshrined in the country's highest law and fundamental law according to the unanimous will of the entire Korean people, is the inevitable result reflecting hostile threats from outside and the changes in the current and future global security dynamics. It does not change just because someone denies it. We neither care about anyone's denial nor recognition, and we will never change our choice."

Deputy Director Kim further stated, "The only solution to resolve the security concerns faced by the U.S., Japan, and South Korea is to thoroughly abandon unilateral attempts to shake North Korea's current status and to diligently seek ways to avoid direct confrontation," warning, "If the U.S. and its followers continue to babble about threats and persist in their anachronistic obsession with denuclearization, it will only provide unlimited justification and legitimacy for our forward path toward building the strongest self-defensive nuclear capability."

This is the first time in about a month that Deputy Director Kim has issued a statement in her name since she released a critical statement during the visit of the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to Busan on the 3rd of last month.

Since the inauguration of the second Trump administration, this is the fourth official response from North Korea regarding 'denuclearization.' Moreover, the level of response has gradually escalated from commentary by the Korean Central News Agency to two statements by the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, and now to this statement by Deputy Director Kim. Regarding this, Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, analyzed, "The commonality among the four official responses is that they are reactions to meetings or joint diplomatic statements involving the U.S., international conferences, and multilateral meetings," adding, "They have relatively refrained from immediate or official responses to denuclearization remarks from U.S. government departments or individual countries." He further noted, "There is no direct criticism of President Trump, and harsh criticism of the Trump administration is also restrained," and added, "Deputy Director Kim's recent statement is intended to firmly remind the threshold of 'denuclearization is impossible' and recognition of nuclear-armed status ahead of a series of North Korea-U.S. contacts."