North Korea told the South Korean president to shut up

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SEOUL — North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said Friday that South Korea’s president should “shut his mouth” after he reiterated that his country was willing to provide economic aid in exchange for nuclear disarmament.

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Her comments marked the first time a senior North Korean official has commented directly on what South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called a “bold” plan – first proposed in May and which he spoke about again on Wednesday at a news conference to mark his first 100 days in office.

“It would be more favorable to his image to keep his mouth shut,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA, calling Yun “really simple and still childish” to think he could trade economic cooperation for the North honor and nuclear weapons.

“No one changes their destiny for corncake,” she added.

South Korea’s unification minister, who is in charge of relations with the North, called Kim’s comments “very disrespectful and indecent.”

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While Yun said he was willing to provide incremental economic aid to North Korea if it stopped developing nuclear weapons and began denuclearization, he also pushed for an increase in South Korea’s military deterrence against North Korea. South Korea has resumed long-suspended joint exercises with the United States, including major field exercises due to begin next week.

On Wednesday, a US State Department spokesman said Washington supported Yun’s policy, but Kim said the joint exercises showed the allies’ talk of diplomacy was disingenuous.

“We are making it clear that we will not sit eye to eye with him,” she said of Yoon.

Experts say the South’s latest economic plan is similar to proposals by previous leaders, including those during summits between then-US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, suggesting the North is unlikely to accept the offer.

“Yun’s initiative adds to a long list of failed offers involving South Korean promises to provide economic benefits to North Korea… These were the same assumptions behind a series of failed attempts to launch denuclearization talks,” Scott Snyder, Sr. fellow at the Council on International Relations think tank, said in a blog post Thursday.

North Korea fired two cruise missiles into the sea on Wednesday, the first such test in two months. This came after the country declared victory over COVID-19 last week.