The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un strongly criticized the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday for its call to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, a stance she called “stupid and senseless.”
At a high-level meeting held last week, ASEAN expressed “deep concern” over the continued development of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and stressed the importance of dialogue “in order to achieve lasting peace and stability on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.”
In a statement released by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency, Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, expressed “strong dissatisfaction with the openly hostile attitude of the forum, which aligns with American propaganda about ‘denuclearization'” and ignores North Korea’s constitution.
“Continuing to stick to ‘denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,’ which has already lost all meaning conceptually and practically, is a failure of strategic thinking and logic, and manifests a wild, stupid and senseless dream,” she said.
Asean should be careful “not to be used as a spokesperson for the United States,” she added.
North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible nuclear state” since the failure of the 2019 summit between Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump, due to differences over the denuclearization of the country and the lifting of sanctions targeting it.
The nuclear character of the country has been enshrined in its constitution since 2023.
Kim Jong Un’s sister is officially only the director of the general affairs department of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. But she is considered as her brother’s right arm and confidante, and as a key player in the country’s communication and foreign policy.
