The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the South Korean Defence Minister a “scum-like guy” for talking about preemptive strikes on the North, warning on Sunday that the South may face “a serious threat.”
Kim Yo-jong’s statement came amid heightened tensions between the rival Koreas over the North’s spate of weapons tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years. Some experts say her statement could signal that North Korea will conduct more significant weapons tests soon and take a hardline stance on South Korea.
The ICBM test that broke North Korea’s four-year moratorium on big weapons tests was a huge embarrassment to South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in, who has pushed hard to achieve greater reconciliation between the countries and find a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear crisis.
During a visit to the country’s strategic missile command on Friday, South Korean Defence Minister Suh Wook said that the country has the ability and readiness to launch precision strikes on North Korea if it detects the North intends to fire missiles at South Korea. Seoul has long maintained such a preemptive military strategy to cope with North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threats, but it was still highly unusual for a senior Seoul official to publicly discuss it.
On Sunday, Mr. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, issued blistering rhetoric directed at Mr. Suh.
“The senseless and scum-like guy dare mention a ‘preemptive strike’ at a nuclear weapons state,” Kim Yo-jong said in a statement. “South Korea may face a serious threat owing to the reckless remarks made by its Defence Minister.”
“South Korea should discipline itself if it wants to stave off disaster,” she said.
Kim Yo-jong, a senior official in the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, is in charge of relations with Seoul and Washington. South Korea’s spy service says she is the North’s No. 2 official behind her brother.
Pak Jong Chon, a secretary in the Workers’ Party’s central committee, separately warned that “any slight misjudgment and ill statement” may trigger “a dangerous conflict and a full-blown war.”
Mr. Pak said North Korea will “mercilessly direct military force into destroying major targets in Seoul and the South Korean army” if South Korea preemptively attacks North Korea.
“Kim Yo Jong’s remarks foreshadow another significant military test,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “Similar to how Moscow and Beijing try to gaslight the world that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is somehow the fault of NATO, Pyongyang will blame its nuclear and missile advancements on the U.S.-South Korea alliance.”
