Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attends a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing following a military parade marking the end of World War II.JADE GAO
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, once again rejected Seoul's finding on a recent mine blast in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and declared that "the enemy is the enemy after all."
"This is the grave conclusion we draw once again from Seoul's new self-staged farce," Kim said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Friday.
Kim, who heads the General Affairs Department of the ruling Workers' Party, was responding to Seoul's official position on the Sept. 21 blast, which wounded three South Korean soldiers inside the DMZ. The South Korean government concluded that the blast was caused by "covert and deliberate mine-laying" by the North and demanded an apology.
"What pathetic people they are," Kim said. "They need to think rationally for once. Why do they imagine we would do anything that would entangle us with South Korea?"
The North's fortification of the border area, she said, is meant "to close the door forever so that we never have to face South Korea and not even wild animals can pass through."
"Frankly speaking, it gives us goose bumps even to be conscious of South Korea," Kim said. "We will not allow even the slightest space or room to be entangled or to deal with South Korea in any form."
Kim also took issue with Seoul's use of the word "provocation" for the North's actions. A real provocation, she said, is "shifting the blame onto others when they are in a hurry, as they are now." She also pointed to "the drone provocation that the Yoon Suk Yeol clique and the current ruling authorities recently committed against us."
Kim was referring to drone flights into the North, both those allegedly ordered under former President Yoon in late 2024 and those three South Korean civilians made between September 2025 and January, which Seoul has since expressed regret over.
A land mine warning sign hangs in the civilian control zone near the demilitarized zone on the western front in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi, on Sept. 30. That day, South Korea's military and the United Nations Command declared the Sept. 21 mine blast in the DMZ a North Korean violation of the armistice, a finding Kim Yo-jong rejected on Oct. 2.YONHAP
"Seoul must stop its petty scheming and immediately quit its nonsensical tricks aimed at damaging the image of our state," she said.
After referring to Seoul's announcement of its findings, Kim went on to mock President Lee Jae Myung's pledge to keep taking steps to lower military tensions.
"The man called president appeared at some kind of commemorative ceremony and expressed his 'will' to consistently take practical measures to lower military tension," she said. "It is truly the climax of a farce too good to watch alone."
Kim accused Seoul of staging "the sequel of a self-staged farce."
"They seem to intend to paint the world as chaotic and then cast themselves in the role of the righteous hero," she said.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Kim had denied the South Korean military's assessment that a mine laid by North Korean troops caused the blast. She called the incident a "farce of their own making" and warned that the North would take "immediate and merciless" retaliation if South Korean troops opened with live fire on its soldiers. She said response guidelines had already been issued to North Korean border units.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
