Kim Yo Jong, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, poured cold water on the flow of ..

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While North Korea has been removing loudspeakers against the South in some areas in the front since the 9th, a loudspeaker against the South remains at a North Korean post along the Imjin River seen from the border area of Paju, Gyeonggi-do, on the 12th. 2025.8.12 [Photo = Yonhap News]

Kim Yo Jong, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, poured cold water on the flow of inter-Korean tensions on the 14th, undermining the Lee Jae-myung administration’s appeasement measures toward North Korea. He also dismissed the possibility that the issue of resuming dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea will be discussed at the upcoming summit between the U.S. and Russia. It is interpreted as a fight to take the initiative in the situation on the Korean Peninsula and create a “denuclearization-free” U.S.-North Korea relationship by actively utilizing the strategic position strengthened by the North Korea-Russia military alliance.

On this day, Vice Minister Kim drew a line on improving inter-Korean relations by carrying a statement titled “Seoul’s hope is nothing but a silly dream” to the Korean Central News Agency.

He also pointed out that President Lee Jae-myung expressed his willingness to resume inter-Korean dialogue at a Cabinet meeting on the 12th, saying, “The North is also removing some loudspeakers.” “If we reveal the facts first, it is a groundless one-sided speculation and a play of manipulating public opinion,” Vice Minister Kim said. “We have never removed the loudspeakers deployed at the border, and we are not willing to remove them.”

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on the 9th that “the North Korean military has identified activities in removing loudspeakers against the South in some areas in the front.” President Lee then expressed his hope to restore inter-Korean relations based on the military authorities’ announcement, but the North countered.

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While North Korea has started removing loudspeakers for the South in some areas in front of it, the interior of the loudspeaker (left side of the picture above) installed in the North from the border area of Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, is empty on the 10th. The picture below shows the loudspeaker on the South taken on June 12. 2025.8.10 [Photo = News1]

Some criticize that the government hastily announced only one or two of the 40 loudspeakers in the South, even after grasping the demolition trend, causing a counterattack.

Sung Il-jong, chairman of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, criticized on Facebook, saying, “Even if North Korea seemed to take down the loudspeaker, it should have analyzed the signs and evaluated them step by step to accurately check and respond to whether it was an enemy’s psychological war or deceptive tactics.”

Lawmaker Sung then criticized, “Was it so urgent to prematurely announce the removal of the loudspeaker in South Korea and manipulate it as if they had brought about peace?”

The government has lost face due to Kim’s statement, but it has expressed its position to continue efforts to normalize inter-Korean relations, urging the North to respond sincerely.

The Ministry of Unification responded, “In order to change the inter-Korean relationship of the ‘强’ over the past three years into a ‘good presidential election’ time, we will have to approach it with a resolute and long breath.” He then urged the North to change, saying, “In order to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and build peace, sincere attitudes and continuous actions from both Koreas are needed.” The Ministry of National Defense also said, “The Ministry of National Defense will continue to take effective measures to ease military tensions while maintaining military preparedness to support the government’s efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

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Kim Yo Jong, deputy director of the Workers’ Party [Photo = Captured the website of the Korean Central News Agency]

In the statement, Vice Minister Kim pointed out that “it is not worth evaluating and it is only in vain” that South Korea and the U.S. delayed some field training sessions at the Ulchi Freedom (UFS) joint exercise. “The current government in South Korea seems to be trying to induce someone’s response in anticipation of being evaluated as if it had done anything big after removing the measures taken unilaterally during the Yoon Suk Yeol regime,” he said, adding, “These petty tricks are nothing but vain ‘dog dreams’ and do not attract our attention at all.” “We don’t care and don’t care whether South Korea removes loudspeakers, stops broadcasting, delays or reduces training,” he said.

Deputy Minister Kim said this position will also be included in the socialist constitution in the future. In other words, the “hostile two countries” relationship, which was released at the end of 2023, has not yet been included in the constitution.

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, analyzed that Kim made such a statement on the eve of the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation to “take out the steam” on the South’s expectations of inter-Korean relations.

Researcher Hong said, “There is a high possibility that inter-Korean relations or peace messages will come out in President Lee’s congratulatory speech (80th anniversary of liberation) and that a message of 80th anniversary of the liberation of the motherland could also come out in North Korea.”

Kim also actively refuted the observation that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him to deliver a message to the U.S. on the occasion of the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska on the 15th.

“Why would we send a message to the U.S., we don’t have to sit face to face with the U.S.,” he said. However, he showed a difference in attitude toward South Korea and the U.S. by mentioning the “personal friendship” between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump and suggesting that he is open to dialogue on the premise of recognizing a nuclear power.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said at a press conference held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul that he expects President Trump to show leadership and make a breakthrough in dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea.

“When I met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House staff (at the time of my first visit to the U.S.), I said, ‘President Trump’s leadership seems to be necessary to make a new breakthrough in the current situation,’ and the U.S. side was also quite favorable,” Cho said. “Until now, the U.S. is in a position that North Korea cannot possess nuclear weapons,” he said, stressing that South Korea and the U.S. share the goal of denuclearizing North Korea.