Kim Jong-un’s sister dials down nuclear threat

North Korea will never launch an unprovoked attack against the South but will unleash an ‘unimaginably terrible’ nuclear response if it is attacked first, warns Kim Jong-un’s sister.

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and generals celebrate the successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile last month. Picture: EPA

North Korea will never launch an unprovoked attack against the South but will unleash an “unimaginably terrible” nuclear response if it is attacked first, the sister of Kim Jong-un has warned.

Kim Yo-jong, 34, the influential younger sister of the North Korean leader, was reacting to remarks last week by the South Korean defence minister, who said that his country had the capacity to strike pre-emptively against attempts to launch missiles at it.

Her statement on the North’s official news agency, the second in two days, promised “a miserable fate little short of total destruction and ruin” for South Korea in the event of an attack. Despite the colourful language, she also emphasised her brother’s commitment to peaceful co-existence.

“If the armies of the two sides fight against each other, the entire Korean nation will suffer a disaster as it did half a century ago,” she said, referring to the 1950-53 Korean War. “That’s why our marshal [Kim] clarified that our principal enemy is war itself.”

Kim Yo-jong has often been direct in response to criticism of her older brother, describing anti-Kim activists in the South as “mongrel dogs” in 2020. Picture: EPA

Yet she added that if South Korea “opts for military confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty”.

The North has been carrying out an intensive series of tests culminating in last month’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile theoretically capable of striking the United States.

In South Korea, a new conservative president, Yoon Suk-yeol, will take over next month from the liberal incumbent Moon Jae-in. During the campaign, Yoon said that he would be prepared to order a pre-emptive attack on the North if it appeared to be close to launching a missile strike on the South.

Kim Yo-jong is one of her brother’s top aides and often serves as a spokeswoman on relations with the South.

The Times