North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, a powerful entity in North Korea has accused South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol of creating tensions on the Korean peninsula. Kim Yo Jong, was quoted by North Korean agencies as saying that Yool was generating tensions to divert attention from domestic issues plaguing his country. This comes at a time when the South Korean President says he will warn North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) leaders of the threat emanating from Pyongyang.
Tensions between the two Koreas are running high after Pyongyang signed a mutual defence pact with Russia and sent trash-filled balloons over to South Korea in response to South Korean activists’ balloon launches with anti-North Korea leaflets.
“Yoon and his group, plunged into the worst ruling crisis, are attempting an ’emergency escape’ through the platform of ever-escalating tensions,” Kim Yo Jong said, according to KCNA.
She cited an online petition calling for Yoon to be impeached, with more than 1 million signatures.
Seoul’s unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs expressed regret over Kim’s remarks condemning Yoon.
“The North Korean regime which…turns a blind eye to people’s livelihoods and oppresses basic human rights should reflect on itself,” Koo Byoung-sam, a spokesperson for the ministry, told a briefing.
Kim Yo Jong also called South’s recent firing drills near the border an “inexcusable and explicit provocation”.
The South Korean military resumed live-fire artillery drills near the western maritime border in late June, the first time since 2018.
Last month, South Korea said it would suspend a military agreement signed with North Korea in 2018 aimed at easing tensions, in protest against North Korea’s trash balloon launches.
Kim said that in case North Korea judges its own sovereignty as violated, its armed forces will immediately carry out their duty according to the constitution.
Tensions have risen in the recent past on the Korean peninsula. This has been evident, especially after Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK/North Korea) failed attempt to put their second spy satellite in orbit. Many thought that the launch was a cover for an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch. The rocket blew up soon after launch. Due to the palpable rising tensions, the United States Air Force (USAF) conducted its first-ever bombing exercise over the peninsula in over seven years. In the comprehensive aerial exercise the USAF flew bombers from its base in Guam, flying for over 3,200 km one way, roughly the length of India. The Americans, South Koreans and the Japanese will also hold joint exercises later this year in order to prepare for any geopolitical eventuality in the region.
(With inputs from Reuters)
