Unification Ministry's 9.3 billion won medical equipment offer draws sovereignty violation charge from Pyongyang

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, on Thursday flatly rejected South Korea's plan to send medical equipment to North Korea, calling it a "political provocation." While demanding that Seoul show "maximum respect" if it genuinely wants to restore inter-Korean relations, Kim said the North would never face the South again, reaffirming Pyongyang's hostile stance.

In a statement released through KCNA, Kim directly referenced the Ministry of Unification's plan to send approximately 9.3 billion won ($6.94 million) worth of medical equipment to Gangdong-gun Hospital in Pyongyang — a shipment for which Seoul had obtained a sanctions exemption from the UN Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee.

Kim took issue with the South Korean government's stated aim of "contributing to improved access to essential medical services for vulnerable groups in North Korea," calling it "an insult to our state, a mutated form of political provocation, and a grave act of sovereignty violation that runs counter to our national law."

Kim also referenced what she described as an ongoing "dog fight" in South Korea over the landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on the western front, saying that even Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young had "confessed on his own that it is difficult to conclude that the landmine explosion was a deliberate attack by our republic." Jeong had said Wednesday at a National Assembly audit of the foreign affairs and unification committee that the incident could not be characterized as a "landmine attack."

Kim then accused Seoul of staging a "clumsily fabricated self-directed drama" — the DMZ landmine incident — and said that when it failed to generate the expected political returns, South Korea rushed out its medical equipment offer as "act two of the farce." She said Seoul's sudden disclosure of a support plan it had been pursuing for months, dressed up under the banner of "humanitarianism" and "trust-building," had an ulterior motive.

Kim said that behind such theatrics lay "a sinister political calculation to contrast their own 'goodwill' with our 'opposing attitude' in order to extract something." She added that if Seoul truly wanted to restore inter-Korean relations, it would need to "show maximum respect, consideration and sincerity in every word and deed, mindful of the other side's feelings."

Kim drew a line, saying that those who "fabricated the landmine explosion farce and declared all-out confrontation with our state" talking about "humanitarian assistance" exemplified "the duplicity, brazenness and shamelessness unique to South Korea." She said it was North Korea's "absolute and immutable position" that it had no intention of exchanging anything with or becoming entangled with South Korea, and no need to face it at all.

Kim closed by saying the North would "never face South Korea again" and that "history that cannot be turned back has long since passed," adding that "the identity of South Korea as the most hostile entity toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the hostile nature of inter-Korean relations, can never change."


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