North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong says South’s hopes for better relations are an illusion

By Heejin Kim

SEOUL, Jan 13 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong said on Tuesday that South Korea’s hope for improved relations was an unrealizable illusion, state media KCNA reported.

The leader’s powerful sister, who is the head of North Korea’s ruling party, criticized a comment attributed to a South Korean government official on Tuesday that Seoul sees a chance to restart talks with Pyongyang, based on her recent reaction to an alleged drone attack on her country.

“As a result, their expectations have already gone wrong,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

“When it comes to Seoul’s various hopeful crazy dreams called ‘repairing (North-South) relations’, all of them can never come true,” Kim said. he said.

Kim Yo Jong appeared to soften her statement over the weekend when she pressured Seoul to investigate drones flying into North Korea, an official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which oversees relations with North Korea, told reporters.

In a statement released late Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong said South Korea “made a serious provocation by violating North Korea’s sovereignty” and repeated her earlier criticism of drones, according to KCNA.

Demanding an apology from the South Korean government and a promise that it will never allow similar events to occur, he said, “I explain once again to the hooligans of the enemy state.”

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s administration has been trying to improve relations with Pyongyang, but so far its overtures have been rebuffed by its neighbor.

(Reporting by Heejin Kim; ‌Editing by Andrew Heavens, Ed Davies)