Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, on Thursday denounced South Korea’s plan to provide medical equipment to the North, calling it an “insult” and a “political provocation.”
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, Kim criticized Seoul for seeking a sanctions exemption from the UN Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee, known as the 1718 Committee, to send medical equipment to a hospital in Pyongyang.
Kim described the aid initiative as “another farce” staged under the banner of “goodwill,” rejecting South Korea’s assessment that North Korea faces shortages of medicines and medical equipment and that the assistance could improve essential medical services.
Saying that the offer was an insult and a “variant of political provocation,” Kim claimed that it was a violation of North Korean sovereignty.
Kim also linked the aid plan to the recent land mine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone that injured South Korean soldiers, accusing Seoul of fabricating the incident and portraying the medical assistance proposal as a follow-up effort intended to contrast South Korea’s goodwill with Pyongyang’s rejection of it.
Referring to Unification Minister Chung Dong-young’s remarks at a parliamentary audit Wednesday that the mine incident could not yet be definitively characterized as a deliberate attack, Kim claimed that even a South Korean official had acknowledged difficulties in assigning responsibility.
She accused Seoul of acting unilaterally toward the North and said if South Korea genuinely sought to improve inter-Korean relations, it should first demonstrate “utmost respect, consideration and sincerity.”
Kim nevertheless reiterated Pyongyang’s position that it had no intention of engaging with Seoul, saying “the hostile nature” of inter-Korean relations can never be altered.
The South Korean government had submitted a sanctions exemption request through the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare to provide medical equipment to North Korea.
The UN sanctions committee approved the exemption in May. Seoul had tentatively planned to ship the equipment in November, but a Unification Ministry official said Thursday that this now appeared unlikely because consultations with North Korea had not taken place.
The exemption remains valid for nine months, through February. If the project cannot proceed by then, Seoul plans to consult the UN on extending the exemption, the ministry official said.
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com
