“The armed forces will fulfill their mission”: Kim Jong Un’s sister threatens action over South Korea’s shooting exercises

North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, the sister of supreme leader Kim Jong Un, called South Korea’s recent firing drills “suicidal hysteria” and threatened unspecified military action if the country is further provoked. Kim Yo Jang’s warning follows South Korea’s firing drills along its tense land and sea borders with North Korea, the first such drills since the suspension of a 2018 agreement meant to ease military tensions on the front line.

She accused South Korea’s conservative government of escalating tensions to distract from a domestic crisis and stressed the riskiness of the drills, which took place in a “delicate situation” after North Korea viewed a recent military exercise between the United States, South Korea and Japan as a threat.

“If, according to our criteria, they are found to have violated (North Korea’s) sovereignty and committed an act tantamount to a declaration of war, our armed forces will immediately carry out their mission and duty assigned to them by the (North Korean) constitution,” Kim Yo Jong said.

North Korea has conducted numerous weapons tests since 2022. However, South Korean officials and experts expressed skepticism about North Korea’s recent tests of a “super-large warhead” missile and a multiple-warhead missile, suspecting they may have been faked to cover up failed launches.

In early June, South Korea completely suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military pact after North Korea sent balloons containing manure, cigarette butts and waste paper across the border in protest against South Korean activists distributing political leaflets in the North.

The military agreement, reached during a brief period of reconciliation between the two Koreas, required both countries to cease all hostile actions in the border areas, such as firing drills, aerial surveillance and psychological warfare. The agreement was in danger of collapsing after both Koreas violated it amid tensions over the launch of a North Korean spy satellite last November.