Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
N. Korea gives U.S. a warning
Push for U.N. action risks fatal crisis, dictator’s sister says
SEOUL, South Korea — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned the United States on Tuesday that it would face “a more fatal security crisis” as Washington pushes for U.N. condemnation of the North’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile test.
Kim Yo Jong’s warning came hours after U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. will circulate a proposed presidential statement condemning North Korea’s banned missile launches and other destabilizing activities.
She lambasted the United States for issuing what she called “a disgusting joint statement together with such rabbles as Britain, France, Australia, Japan and South Korea.”
Kim compared the United States to “a barking dog seized with fear.” She said North Korea would consider the U.S.-led statement “a wanton violation of our sovereignty and a grave political provocation.”
“The U.S. should be mindful that no matter how desperately it may seek to disarm [North Korea], it can never deprive [North Korea] of its right to self-defense and that the more hell- bent it gets on the anti-[North Korea] acts, it will face a more fatal security crisis,” she said in a statement carried by state media.
Monday’s U. N. Security Council meeting was convened in response to North Korea’s ICBM launch on Friday.
During the Security Council meeting, the United States and its allies criticized the ICBM launch and called for action to limit North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. But Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council, opposed any new pressure and sanctions on North Korea.
North Korea has said its testing activities are legitimate exercises of its right to self-defense in response to regular military drills between the United States and South Korea, which it views as an invasion rehearsal. Washington and Seoul officials say the exercises are defensive in nature.
The fact that North Korea’s ICBM launch was discussed at the Security Council is “evidently the application of double standards” by the U.N. body because it “turned blind eyes” to the U.S.-South Korean military drills, Kim Yo Jong said. She said North Korea won’t tolerate any attempt to undermine its right to self-defense.
There are concerns that North Korea may soon conduct its first nuclear test in five years.
DAUGHTER’S APPEARANCE
The daughter of Kim Jong Un who was recently seen in public for the first time at a missile launch site is his second child that is about 10 years old, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Tuesday.
On Saturday, North Korea said Kim observed the launch of the country’s Hwasong-17 missile the previous day with his wife Ri Sol Ju and their “beloved daughter.” State media released photos showing Kim walking hand-in-hand with a young girl and watching a soaring weapon from a distance.
In a closed briefing at a parliament committee, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency, told lawmakers that it assesses that the daughter is Kim’s second child, Ju Ae, said Yoo Sang-bum, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.
The agency determined that she is Kim’s second child because her looks matched information that she’s taller and bigger than other girls who are the same age, Yoo cited the group as saying.
Youn Kun-young, who also attended the intelligence meeting, said he also was briefed that she is Kim’s second child but refused to provide further details.
The revealing of the daughter believed to be in her early teens came as a surprise to outside observers.
Some experts say the daughter’s disclosing at a missile test site showed that Kim was emboldened by his advancing nuclear arsenal, the backbone of his family’s rule. Others speculate that if Kim continues to bring her to major public events, that could suggest that he might have her as his early heir apparent in his mind.