Newsman: Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea‘s leader, warned the Biden administration against “causing a stink at its first step” on Monday, hours after the White House said it had not received a response to its outreach to Pyongyang.
“We take this opportunity to warn the new US administration trying hard to give off powder smell in our land,” she said in a statement, according to the country’s state news agency.
The U.S. and Japan issued a joint statement Tuesday reasserting their commitment to the denuclearization of North Korea and urging Kim Jong-un to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions. Blinken also stressed the importance of addressing the abduction of Japanese citizens in North Korea. US secretary of state Blinken told reporters he was “familiar” with the statement but was more interested in hearing from allies and partners.
“That’s why we’ve come to this region,” Blinken said. “That’s why we’ve come to Japan, precisely to listen to our allies and to discuss how collectively we might seek to address the threat from North Korea.”
https://d-19959573123877492514.ampproject.net/2103060631002/frame.html Kim Yo Jong’s statement came hours before Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with top Japanese officials in Tokyo. Blinken and Austin are scheduled to travel to South Korea Wednesday for meetings in Seoul.
“If it wants to sleep in peace for (the) coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step,” she said. The warning comes as the US and South Korea conduct scaled-down, simulated military exercises and US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have touched down in the region for meetings with their Japanese and South Korean counterparts.
“We take this opportunity to warn the new U.S. administration trying hard to give off a powder smell in our land,” Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement to state-run media. “If it wants to sleep in peace for the coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step.”
Most of Kim Yo Jong’s statement targeted South Korea for its participation in joint military exercises with the U.S. this month. Joint drills had been suspended or scaled back under President Donald Trump, and this year’s exercise was primarily a computer simulation, but it clearly still raised concerns in Pyongyang.
“War drill and hostility can never go with dialogue and cooperation,” Kim Yo Jong, said, according to The New York Times. “They are about to bring a biting wind, not warm wind expected by all, in the spring days of March.”
President Biden outlined the same priorities in a joint statement with the leaders of Australia, India, and Japan last Friday: “We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions, and also confirm the necessity of immediate resolution of the issue of Japanese abductees.”
Reuters reported Saturday that the Biden administration had made multiple attempts to connect with North Korea since mid-February without success. An administration official observed several efforts to engage in active dialogue in the final year of the Trump presidency also failed.
“Diplomacy is always our goal. Our goal is to reduce the risk of escalation. But, to date, we have not received any response,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed Monday.
https://d-19959573123877492514.ampproject.net/2103060631002/frame.html The White House is conducting a comprehensive review of North Korea policy that is expected to be completed within the next month. President Biden had previously said he would only meet with Kim if North Korea first agreed to draw down its nuclear capacity.
A confidential United Nations report obtained by Reuters last month claimed North Korea had continued developing nuclear and ballistic missiles throughout 2020. A member state concluded it was “highly likely” the North Koreans have the capability to mount a nuclear device on a missile, but they might not be able to build missiles that would survive the heat of reentry into the atmosphere.
