North Korea dismisses Lee Jae Myung as 'powerless dreamer,' rejects South as diplomatic partner
Published: 20 Aug. 2025, 09:03
Updated: 20 Aug. 2025, 21:29
![Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attends a ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi on March 2, 2019. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/20/6e89bd84-3845-467a-9999-3e4e569c037b.jpg)
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attends a ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi on March 2, 2019. [JOONGANG ILBO]
North Korea denounced South Korean President Lee Jae Myung as a powerless dreamer and dismissed Seoul as unworthy of diplomacy in a blistering statement from Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The remarks signal worsening ties on the peninsula.
Kim Yo-jong delivered the comments during a meeting with senior Foreign Ministry officials on Tuesday to outline Kim Jong-un’s foreign policy vision, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday.
She said Lee was “not a great figure who can change the tide of history” and that “South Korea is not a country worthy of being our diplomatic counterpart.”
“Since the Lee Jae Myung administration took office, we can immediately tell they’re making a desperate show of ‘sincere efforts’ to appear as if something has changed in pursuit of ‘improving’ inter-Korean relations,” she said.
“But no matter how they try to wrap up their rotten confrontational instincts with the flowers of peace, a needle always sticks out of the sack.”
Kim Yo-jong dismissed Lee’s remarks as a “delusion and a pipe dream, piece by piece, clause by clause,” following a Cabinet meeting on Monday when Lee said that “small actions will eventually pile up like pebbles and restore mutual trust.”
“No matter how firm his determination may be, how is he supposed to carry it out alone?” Kim Yo-jong sneered. “The South Korean people must be quite satisfied just listening to these grand declarations, filled with unachievable dreams.
“We have witnessed and experienced firsthand the filthy political system of South Korea for decades, from the Moon Jae-in administration to the Yoon Suk Yeol administration,” she continued.
“The conclusion is this: Regardless of whether the administration flies the banner of ‘conservatism’ or dons the cap of ‘liberalism,’ their confrontational ambitions against our republic have been handed down unchanged. Lee Jae Myung is not the kind of figure who can reverse the course of history.”
Kim Yo-jong also said Pyongyang “clearly remembers” the comments made by the foreign minister and defense minister since their nominee days — Cho Hyun and Ahn Gyu-back, respectively — that “they consider the North Korean regime and military to be their enemy.”
![Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is pictured in this photo provided by Pyongyang's Rodong Sinmun. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/20/0fc2baa2-84cf-4044-b795-9b6f8eb0e472.jpg)
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is pictured in this photo provided by Pyongyang's Rodong Sinmun. [NEWS1]
She went on to denounce the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise between Seoul and Washington as “a rehearsal for invasion.”
“Even as the reckless U.S.-South Korean war drills, which directly threaten our republic’s security, unfold, the Lee Jae Myung administration continues parroting the old lines of its predecessors, calling them ‘defensive exercises,’” Kim Yo-jong said. “This only exposes the duplicitous character of the South Korean authorities.”
She specifically highlighted South Korea and the United States' joint wartime operations plan, Oplan 5022, which reportedly includes pre-emptive measures to neutralize the North's nuclear and missile capabilities and expand strikes into North Korean territory.
“While pretending to extend a hand for reconciliation, they are reviewing a plan to remove our nuclear and missile capabilities early and extend their offensive into our territory,” she said.
Kim Yo-jong also made it clear that the regime does not consider South Korea a player on the diplomatic stage.
“South Korea will not even be given the role of a background extra in the regional diplomatic theater centered around our state,” she said, adding that the North’s Foreign Ministry must develop a “strategic response” in dealing with hostile states and their sympathizers based on the leader’s assessment of the South’s “true nature.”
On Wednesday morning, the South Korean presidential office responded to Kim's comments.
“The proactive measures taken by the Lee Jae Myung administration for peace on the Korean Peninsula are not actions for unilateral benefit or any particular party in mind, but rather a process aimed at stability and prosperity for both South and North Korea,” the office said in a statement.
“The government will leave the era of hostility and confrontation behind and make sure to usher in a new era of peaceful coexistence and joint growth on the Korean Peninsula.”
About an hour later, the office said, “It is regrettable that North Korean officials are distorting our sincere efforts.”
Since taking office in June, Lee has made the restoration of inter-Korean relations a key national policy task, halting the distribution of propaganda leaflets and dismantling the loudspeaker broadcasts directed toward the North.
Last Friday, in his Liberation Day speech, Lee said that the government would “proactively and gradually restore the Sept. 19 military agreement to prevent accidental clashes and build military trust between the two Koreas.”
In a Cabinet meeting on Monday, he instructed relevant ministries to “begin the phased implementation of feasible parts of existing inter-Korean agreements.”
Update, Aug. 20: Added details about the South Korean presidential office's statement.
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.
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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