We will scrap peace deal, says North Korean official

KIM Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, yesterday threatened to scrap a peace agreement with South Korea as she slammed Seoul for conducting military exercises with the US.

“South Korea has again chosen ‘March of war’ and ‘March of crisis’ instead of ‘warm March’ in front of all Korean people,” Yonhap News Agency quoted Kim Yo-jong as saying in an article carried by Pyongyang’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

“We will keep an eye on the attitude and behaviour of South Korea going forward and should it become more provocative, we could take special measures such as boldly scrapping the inter-Korean military agreement,” she said.

She was referring to the deal signed in September 2018 to ease cross-border tensions.

She also said that North Korea had no choice but to disband the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country handling cross-border affairs and dialogue, saying there is no reason for such an organisation to exist any longer.

Kim Yo-jong’s statement comes after the White House said it has reached out to North Korea for talks, but Pyongyang has remained unresponsive.

South Korea and the US kicked off their springtime combined military drills on March 8 involving a “minimum level of troops” in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The drills will last until tomorrow.

Kim Yo-jong also accused South Korea of making excuses about the reduced size and changed format of the annual drills, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. “We have opposed the joint military drills targeting the compatriots but never argued about their scale or form,” she said.

“It is because the essence and nature of the drills against the compatriots in the north never change despite any change in their forms.”

She also warned the new US administration against any provocative acts, saying “if it wants to sleep in peace for the coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step”.