Kim Jong-Un`s Sister Rejects Peace with South Korea

By Paul Singh

Kim Yo-Jong, sister of the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, has rejected peace with South Korea. Even though anti-Pyongyang propaganda has been banned from being played across the border by President Lee Jae-Myung, peace between the North and South is uncertain due to the South`s alliance with the U.S.

Countless measures by the South have been rejected by the North no matter the South`s effort. According to Politico, “The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un rebuffed overtures by South Korea’s new liberal government, saying Monday that North Korea has no interests in talks with South Korea no matter what proposal its rival offers.”

Kim Yo-Jong, one of the youngest children of former Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Il, made a statement about relations with the South signifying that peace within the peninsula is unlikely. Yo-Jong made a statement carried by North Korea`s Central News
Agency, saying, “We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither the reason to meet nor the issue to be discussed with the ROK,” referring to the
Republic of Korea, The Japan Times reports.

Even after Yo Jong`s statement, President Lee still wants to advocate for peace between the North and South. Asia News Network reports, the South`s Presidential Office said it will continue to take action to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is free of hostility.

The North is very suspicious of the South`s ties to the U.S. Yo-Jong stated that the South Korea-U.S. military drills is preparation to invade the North. “Kim Yo-Jong called Lee’s steps ‘sincere efforts’ to develop ties, but said the new government still plots to
‘stand in confrontation’ with North Korea. She mentioned the upcoming summertime South Korea-U.S. military drills, which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal,”
according to ABC News.

Moreover, talks about North Korea’s denuclearization have also been rejected. The Diplomat, a newspaper from Australia, reports, “[S]he also clearly described denuclearization as a pointless concept that can be interpreted as ‘nothing.’”

Instead, the North wants President Trump to acknowledge the nation as a nuclear weapons state. North Korea said the relationship between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un as “not bad” and the U.S. has to recognize the North as a “nuclear
weapons state,” according to NBC News.

Efforts to find out why Kim Yo-Jong insists on North Korea being recognized as a nuclear power have not yielded clear answers.

North Korea sees working with Russia as a more promising alliance so they are focusing on this cooperation. The Associated Press reports, “Kim Yo Jong’s comments imply that North Korea — now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia — sees no need to resume diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime soon.

Experts say she likely hopes to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington.”

President Lee Jae-Myung took office two months ago after winning an election to remove hardline conservative, Former President Yoon Suk-Yeol’s after his failed attempt of declaring martial law, according to South Indian newspaper, Deccan Herald.

The North has compared President Lee to his predecessor due to the South Korea-United States security alliance, according to Mehr News Agency, a news agency from Tehran.

There has also been anti-North propaganda from President Lee. According to Newsweek, “Lee’s administration has sought to signal goodwill by scaling back frontline anti-Pyongyang activities. It also repatriated six North Koreans earlier this month who had drifted into South Korean waters in March and May and had expressed their desire to return, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification said.”

Peace between the North and the South has been rejected several times. Visits from citizens from the South have been prohibited and Pyongyang has refused to engage in talks, Newsweek reports.

In recent years, tension along the border has increased. Deutsche Welle reports, South Korea has played anti-Pyongyang propaganda, K-pop songs and short-wave radio broadcasts toward the North on loudspeakers. In retaliation, they send balloons filled with trash, parasite-filled soiled and used cigarettes, as well as playing unpleasant noises on loudspeakers toward the South.

As signs of good faith, President Lee Jae-Myung had ordered the removal of loudspeakers, banned anti-Pyongyang activists from sending propaganda and stopped sending short-wave radio broadcasts, according to Spokesman-Review.

According to KSAT, “South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the physical removal of the loudspeakers from the border was another ‘practical measure’ aimed at easing tensions
between the war-divided Koreas and that it does not affect the South’s military readiness.”

This would get on North Korea’s good side by eliminating influence from the South, according to Imperial Valley Press, a small newspaper in El Centro, California.

There were hopes for peace within the Peninsula earlier in the 21st century when Kim Jong-Il was the dictator of the North. South Korea has supplied aid to the North and had a policy called the “Sunshine Policy” in which former President Kim Dae-Jung had
visited the North in 2000 for reconciliation and cooperation.

There were a lot of common elements that the North and South shared along with proposals for achieving reunification, according to The Korea Herald. Moreover, they agreed to resolve humanitarian issues and allow visits from family members separated by the 38th Parallel.

Both Koreas agreed to help each other through trade and “exchanges in civic, cultural, sports, public health, environmental and all other fields,” The Korea Herald reports.

Four years later at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, North and South Korean athletes had marched together, according to Britannica.

In 2010, there was a cross-border reunion between families separated by the 38th parallel but a month later, there was a military exercise off the coast. Britannica states, North Korean artillery shells bombarded the South`s border island of Yeonpyeong hitting a military base and civilian homes leading to several casualties making them return fire to the North and raised the level of military preparedness on the island.

All of this proved that whenever there was a possibility of peace between the two Koreas, there would be an incident disrupting peace, creating further hostility in the peninsula.