N. Korea’s grievances with S. Korea as expressed by Kim Yo-jong

Posted on : 2020-06-18 16:26 KST Modified on : 2020-06-18 17:30 KST
Pyongyang’s statements express position that Seoul has not followed through on any inter-Korean agreements
Kim Yo-jong, first deputy director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. (Hankyoreh archives)
Kim Yo-jong, first deputy director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. (Hankyoreh archives)

North Korea’s grievances with the South Korean government were expressed in a statement by Kim Yo-jong, first deputy director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), that was released by the North Korean media on June 17. The statement, which was littered with harsh language, shows that North Korea felt angered and betrayed that Seoul had ignored the propaganda leaflets that private groups launched into North Korea by balloon; that it had been blocked by its working group with the US from relaxing sanctions on the North; that it had carried out joint military exercises with the US despite the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), which was signed on Sept. 19, 2018; and that it was acquiring weapons from the US.

The primary grievance that Kim voiced in the statement was the balloon launches. The current situation, Kim said, had been caused by the “South Korean authorities’ connivance” at the launches. Furthermore, she said that South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s June 15 speech “should have reflected his apology, repentance, and firm pledge to prevent the recurrence of similar occurrences.”

Even though the Blue House promised on June 11 that it would “thoroughly crack down” on the balloon launches and make a “strict legal response to violations,” North Korea has continued its criticism, presumably because it also wants the South to show remorse and apologize for failing to prevent the balloon launches, which are in violation of inter-Korean agreements.

The most striking feature of this statement is that it accuses the South Korean government of not striving to implement its Apr. 27 Panmunjom Declaration and Sept. 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration and of being blocked from easing sanctions by its relationship with the US.

“Is there even a single paragraph of the Panmunjom Declaration and the September Pyongyang Joint Declaration which the South Korean authorities followed through on?” Kim asked, adding that Moon “had no resolution and [. . .] hesitated to do what he could surely do in relations between the North and the South.”

N. Korea bombards South Korea’s acceptance of working group as “pro-US flunkeyism and submission”

More specifically, Kim blamed the lack of implementation of the inter-Korean agreements on South Korea’s acceptance of the working group proposed by the US. “[Moon] accepted the ‘South Korea-US working group’ under the coercion of his master and presented all issues related to [. . .] North-South ties to [the] White House,” Kim said.

“For the past two years, the South Korean authorities [. . .] put the absolute preconditions of ‘within the framework of sanctions,’” Kim said, alleging that “North-South ties [were] reduced [to] the plaything of the US” because of South Korea’s “pro-US flunkeyism and submission.”

Following the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, the South Korean government set up a working group with the US in November 2018 and explored the possibility of getting waiving sanctions blocking inter-Korean cooperation projects. The working group has been criticized not only by North Korea but also by figures connected with the South Korean government as standing in the way of inter-Korean cooperation. In apparent response to such criticism, Seoul has not been publishing information about whether the working group is meeting or about its work since May 2019.

Kim’s statement also said that South Korea had “staged war exercises and offered money running at an astronomical figure for purchasing ultra-modern weapons on the order of the US,” which she said represented another violation of the inter-Korean agreement. Kim’s argument is that South Korea’s military exercises with the US and its acquisition of American-made weapons go against the spirit of the CMA, in which South and North Korea agreed to halt all hostile activity on the ground, in the air and at sea.

South Korea and the US held the “19-1 Dongmaeng” drills in the first and second half of 2019, a command post exercise in the second half of the year, and a two-week aerial exercise in April.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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