Although North Korea has been tacitly accepting foreign relations for several months, it has vilified a senior official in Seoul for its recent comments on Pyongyang’s response to the pandemic and has used an increasingly well-known spokesperson,
Kim Yo-jung,
Sister to the head of the regime.
Miss Kim, a close relative.
KIM Jong-un,
addressed the South Korean foreign minister on Wednesday,
KANG Kyung-wha,
who said at last week’s Security Forum that Pyongyang’s oft-repeated claim that there would be no confirmation of Kovid’s 19 cases was hard to believe.
Of course, Ms. Kim in response to these comments: We’ll never forget her words, and she may have to pay for them.
Pyongyang’s return to public reprimand, a hallmark of Kim Il-sung’s regime’s foreign policy tactics, has had a significant impact on North Korea’s behaviour this year, as the country has plunged into domestic affairs and directed much of its anger towards its southern neighbour.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not comment on Ms. Kim.
For the first time since July, Kim was appointed U.S. Ambassador to North Korea,
Stephen Bigoon,
was visiting Seoul.
In his brief address to the journalists on Wednesday, Mr Biegun made no mention of Mrs Kim’s statement. He stated that
Assets
The government’s efforts to get involved in Pyongyang are not over yet. Our collaboration over the past two and a half years has been a story of leadership, he said. The one we’re still working on and the one we haven’t finished.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Gyun-whabei attended a security forum in Bahrain on 5 and 6 December. December.
Photo:
Yonhap-News/Zuma Press
President Trump has established a much closer relationship with the North Korean leader than with the previous US presidents through three personal meetings and a series of letters. However, negotiations between the United States and Pyongyang on denuclearisation have reached an impasse.
North Korea did not recognise the President-elect’s victory in the November elections.
Joe Biden.
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You may have missed today’s headlines, the news in context and the good lecture in Welsh Tyler Blint.
As Deputy Director of the Northern Public Relations and Propaganda Department, Mrs. Kim, 32, has taken on a more prominent role this year. This summer she acted as a speaker in response to growing tensions with South Korea, which led the North to blow up the jointly operated liaison office. In July it also drew attention to US issues, questioning the possibility of a new nuclear summit in the near future and describing these meetings as unfavourable to the regime.
In a review in August, the Seoul Counter-Intelligence Agency said that Ms. Kim had been given more authority in public affairs by her brother. Although his successor is not certain, he is de facto considered the number 2 leader, according to the espionage agency.
Since her appearance at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, where she sat next to the vice president, her profile has risen sharply.
Mike Pence
…which marked the beginning of diplomatic relations with the Kim regime. Together with her brother, Kim participated in the nuclear summits with President Trump in Singapore and Vietnam and in the third meeting at the inter-Korean border.
But this year North Korea was more reluctant, although it did not participate in the July 10 military parade. October meant improved weapons. During a maskless nocturnal event, Pyongyang unveiled a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the largest of its kind according to weapons experts.
North Korea is currently campaigning for an eighty-day battle and invites citizens to make further contributions to national goals before the rare meeting of a working group early next year, which is expected to present the country’s next five-year economic plan. Observers in Pyongyang do not expect much from the Kim regime from time to time, especially as they anticipate the next Biden government.
North Korea was one of the first countries to respond to Kovid-19. The country closed its borders with China in January and has closed them ever since. Pyongyang’s efforts to combat the epidemic have been widely reported in the state media. Kim urged citizens to become self-sufficient, but rejected offers of medical aid from South Korea and other countries.
According to the World Health Organisation, North Korea has reported more than 8500 suspected cases of Covida-19, although it has not reported any confirmed cases.
Ms. Kim’s statement is at a low level in inter-Korean relations. In addition to blowing up the liaison office, North Korea has cut the line of communication between the two countries and frustrated South Korea’s attempts to bring the two countries closer together to resume peace talks.
However, South Korean unification minister Lee Yeongyeon believes that inter-Korean relations could be resumed after North Korea’s major meeting in January, using the pandemic as an excuse to resume. In a speech Tuesday to a local radio station, Lee also said Biden’s inauguration could turn the tide in U.S.-Korean relations, and he said momentum on the Korean Peninsula has reached a turning point.
In recent weeks, Mr Lee has proposed restructuring the Liaison Office and opening a new office on North Korean territory, with four border regions as possible locations.
Far from militant press releases and demonstrations of the regime’s arsenal, North Korean bloggers show a softer side of life in Pyongyang. In this way, the country is modernising its propaganda machine to appeal to a new audience that speaks English, French and Chinese. Photocomposite: Sharon Shea.
—
Andrew Jung
has contributed to this article.
Write to Timothy V. Martin at [email protected].
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