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North Korea fires multiple-rocket launchers from the Wonsan area on Mar. 2. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

After the South Korean government expressed its “strong regret” on Mar. 2 for North Korea’s launch of two short-range projectiles and urged the North to “suspend” such activities, Kim Yo-jong responded on the evening of Mar. 3 with a statement in which she described Seoul’s comments as “the height of folly.”

This was the first statement to be signed by Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and first vice director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). Tensions have been rising as South and North Korea exchange recriminations after the North fired rounds of a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” on Mar. 2.

In a statement titled “Kim Yo-jong blasts [the Blue House’s] foolish way of thinking,” Kim said the Blue House’s response “to the firepower strike drill conducted by the frontline artillerymen of the Korean People’s Army Monday [. . .] amounts to a truly senseless act.”

“It is really the height of folly that those keen on war exercises poke their noses [into] the military exercises conducted by the other,” Kim added.

“Training is the basic mission of the army responsible for the defense of the country and is an action for self-defense,” Kim said. “The drill was not aimed to threaten anybody.”

Kim was referring to the South Korean government’s call for the North to “suspend” missile launches during an emergency video conference between the heads of relevant ministries, presided over by National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong. During that meeting, the South Korean government expressed its “strong concern about actions that cause military tensions.”

“[The South Koreans] meant they need to get militarily prepared but we should be discouraged from military exercises,” Kim said, describing this as “a gangster-like assertion.”

“Such incoherent assertion and actions made by [the Blue House] only magnify our distrust, hatred and scorn for the south side as a whole.”

Kim also compared the Blue House’s behavior to that of a small child. The Blue House, Kim added, is “exactly the same” as the US, which “is apt to making far-fetched assertions.”

Kim did note, however, that “it is somewhat fortunate that [this] was not [a] direct statement [by] the president [Moon Jae-in].” In effect, she toned down her criticism of South Korea by drawing a distinction between the Blue House and its president.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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