hankyoreh

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Yonhap News)

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said that “we oppose war” and “will not fire even a single bullet or shell toward South Korea” in a press statement carried by the party-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Monday.

But in the same statement, Kim, whose official title is vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), said that if “South Korea opts for military confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty.” The statement seems intended not only for an internal audience but also for the incoming administration of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol in the South.

“If the armies of the two sides fight against each other, the entire Korean nation will suffer a disaster as it did half a century ago that might be more terrible. [. . .] We are definitely against such [a] war,” Kim said in her statement, which was printed at the top of the second page of the Rodong Sinmun.

“This opinion comes not from an obvious contrast with a nuclear weapons state in the light of military capabilities but from the fact that the north and the south of Korea are of the same nation who should not fight against each other,” Kim stressed.

Just as in her statement two days ago, Kim criticized South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook’s comments about launching precision strikes against launch sites given signs of an imminent North Korean missile launch. But in this statement, she moderated her tone.

“It seems that he wanted to give [the] impression to the public that the South Korean army is well prepared. But it was an irretrievable very big mistake that he, [the] so-called representative of the South Korean army, talked about a ‘preemptive strike,’ terming us [an] enemy,” she said.

Kim also mentioned the use of nuclear weapons in her statement, saying that “in case South Korea opts for military confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty.” The suggestion was that if South Korea “opts for such military action as [a] ‘preemptive strike,’” then the North could respond with nuclear weapons.

The context of Kim releasing two statements just two days apart can be analyzed in terms of messages intended for the home audience and for South Korea.

In terms of South Korea, the statement seems to be addressed to the incoming administration of Yoon Suk-yeol, who will be inaugurated as the country’s next president on May 10.

“‘Preemptive strike’ against a nuclear weapons state? … This is a fantastic daydream, and it is [the] hysteria of a lunatic,” Kim said in harsh language, without specifying the subject of her criticism.

If North Korea’s “nuclear combat force is mobilized,” Kim went on to say, “the South Korean army will have to face a miserable fate little short of total destruction and ruin.”

On the surface, her remarks seem aimed at Suh Wook. But her actual intended recipient would appear to be Yoon, who has adopted a hard-line stance toward North Korea and expressed his willingness to launch a preemptive strike on the North.

Therefore, Kim may actually be trying to shape the North Korea policy of Yoon ahead of his inauguration a little over a month away.

Second, Kim’s statement also seems largely intended to reassure the North Korean public. That interpretation is supported by the fact that both of her statements were printed in the Rodong Sinmun, the official organ of the WPK Central Committee and required reading for North Koreans.

When Pyongyang wants to send a message to South Korea and the US, its typical choice of publication is not the Rodong Sinmun but rather the Korean Central News Agency, which is intended for overseas readers and is not available to ordinary North Koreans.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]