North’s Kim Yo Jong shuts down Seoul’s talk of dialogue after drone row

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has dismissed suggestions from South Korea that Pyongyang is leaving space for renewed “communication” after a series of alleged drone incursions along the border.

In a statement carried by North Korean state media on Wednesday, Kim said the South had committed a “grave provocation by infringing upon the sovereignty” of the North by allegedly sending drones into its airspace in September and again this month.

“As far as Seoul’s various hope-filled wild dreams called ‘repair of relations’ are concerned, they all can never come true,” Kim said, pouring cold water on any talk of a thaw.

Pyongyang first publicised the drone incidents on Saturday, describing them as an “act of provocation”, and released images of what it said were wrecked drones shot down near the border.

Seoul responded by opening an investigation and said its military does not operate the drone models shown in the photos, raising the possibility they were launched by South Korean civilians rather than the armed forces.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called the incident a “serious crime that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and national security”.

Amid the escalating rhetoric, Kim issued a follow-up statement on Sunday demanding a “detailed explanation” from Seoul, while also noting that South Korea’s military had “no intention to provoke or irritate us”.

That nuance was seized upon by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, which suggested Pyongyang might be signalling openness to further “communication”, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Such statements from the North are routinely dissected in Seoul for hints of a policy shift, particularly as Kim Yo Jong is widely seen as a key powerbroker and a possible future leader.

On Wednesday, however, Kim bluntly rejected that reading, calling the Unification Ministry’s expectations a “poor” assessment.

She also took aim at President Lee’s recent meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, where the two leaders reaffirmed cooperation with the United States to maintain regional security.

“The chief executive is so busy with his solicitation diplomacy abroad, and the authorities are going so earnestly to pretend that they are to show goodwill, harbouring a daydream. But the present address of the relations can never change,” Kim said, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency.