Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has accused South Korea of deliberately avoiding responsibility for alleged drone flights over Pyongyang. She warned of a “terrible calamity” if the flights continue. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry claimed that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets were detected over Pyongyang on Oct.
3 and again in recent days. The ministry said North Korean forces will prepare “all means of attack” to destroy targets on the southern side of the border if South Korean drones are detected in its territory again. South Korea’s defense minister initially denied the accusation, but the South’s military later stated it couldn’t confirm whether or not the North’s claims were true.
Kim argued that the South Korean military’s vague statements should be taken as proof of either complicity or intentional negligence.
Kim Yo Jong’s warning to South
Relations between South Korea and North Korea are at their worst in years, as the pace of North Korea’s missile tests and the South’s combined military training with the United States have intensified.
The animosity has been exacerbated by Cold War-style psychological warfare campaigns between the Koreas in recent months. Since May, North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying waste material to drop on the South, in retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who flew balloons with anti-North Korean leaflets across the border. South Korea’s military responded by using border loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda and K-pop into North Korea.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of the government of Kim Jong Un and his family’s rule. South Korean officials have raised concerns that North Korea may seek to increase pressure on Seoul and Washington ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Experts suggest Kim’s long-term goal is to force Washington to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and to negotiate security and economic concessions from a position of strength.
Analysts noted that North Korea is likely preparing major provocations around the U.S. election, possibly including a nuclear test or the flight-test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, to capture Washington’s attention.
