Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department [Yonhap]
Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department [Yonhap]

Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department and sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, dismissed Donald Trump's order to scale back joint US-South Korea military exercises, saying Pyongyang finds the move "of no interest whatsoever."

She also drew a line under Trump's suggestion of communication between the two leaders, saying it was something she knew "nothing about."

Kim made the remarks Wednesday night in a statement on "positions on major international issues" released through KCNA.

"If I were to speak about the reduction of the US-South Korea joint military exercises that the US president suddenly announced a few days ago, we see it as not even worth commenting on and feel no interest in it whatsoever," she said.

She added that reducing the scale or duration of the exercises did not change their fundamentally provocative and aggressive nature. "We are paying closer attention to the reality that they are still ongoing, and this is an undeniable expression of overt hostility toward Korea," she said.

Kim warned that if Washington calculated it could promote the move as some kind of "goodwill gesture," it would not get the response it was looking for.

On the question of communication between the two leaders, Kim was equally dismissive. "This is something I know nothing about," she said, adding that it was "perhaps the only matter related to our supreme leadership's foreign policy of which I am unaware."

However, she offered a more positive assessment of Kim Jong-un's personal feelings toward Trump.

"It has already been made clear on multiple occasions that our head of state personally holds fond memories and feelings toward Trump," she said. "The relationship between the two leaders remains excellent. The world knows this, and I do not think it is particularly surprising."


bbo@heraldcorp.com