North Korea says Kim Yo-jong’s remarks were 'warning,' not opening to Seoul
Published: 08 Apr. 2026, 09:18
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- MICHAEL LEE
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in Seoul on April 6. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/04/08/5acac794-767e-46c0-931e-e66af365b4dd.jpg)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in Seoul on April 6. [YONHAP]
A senior North Korean official on Tuesday cast doubt on any thaw in relations with Seoul, saying the previous day’s statement by Kim Yo-jong was meant as a warning, not an opening, and dismissed South Korea’s response as “wishful interpretation.”
Jang Kum-chol, the North’s first vice foreign minister, issued the statement after officials in Seoul welcomed remarks by Kim, the sister of leader Kim Jong-un, as a potentially positive signal.
Kim Yo-jong described President Lee Jae Myung as “frank and broad-minded” after he expressed regret over drone incursions into the North conducted by South Korean individuals. Her comments, coming at a moment of heightened tension, had raised hopes in Seoul of a possible shift in Pyongyang’s refusal to engage in dialogue.
However, Jang called the South’s assessment a “pipe dream” and said the message should be understood differently.
“The core of the statement was a clear warning,” Jang said, adding that it amounted to a demand that South Korea acknowledge its “wrongdoing” and refrain from approaching the North.
![North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, speaks during a Workers' Party meeting in Pyongyang in this file photo released by the state-run Rodong Sinmun [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/04/08/f79b21c8-e0aa-4445-84d9-726d1f5fae1f.jpg)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, speaks during a Workers' Party meeting in Pyongyang in this file photo released by the state-run Rodong Sinmun [NEWS1]
He also emphasized that North Korea’s view of the South as its “most hostile state” remained unchanged, pointing to Seoul’s participation in United Nations resolutions criticizing Pyongyang’s human rights record.
Taken together, the remarks suggest that any optimism in Seoul regarding a potential change in Pyongyang’s approach to inter-Korean relations might be premature.
Kim Jong-un has previously dismissed the Lee administration’s proposal for renewed inter-Korean dialogue, including a phased denuclearization plan for the Korean Peninsula.
He described the plan as “nothing more than a copied version transcribed from the ‘homework notebooks’ of predecessors who dreamed of our disarmament” in a speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly in September.
BY MICHAEL LEE, YONHAP [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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