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TOKYO: Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has poured cold water on South Korea’s hopes of improving relations with its northern neighbor, stating, “South Korea cannot be our diplomatic partner,” according to a Korean Central News Agency report.

Kim, who is Deputy Director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said the North “had witnessed with disgust” the transition of power from presidents Moon Jae-in to Yoon Seok-yeol, who is currently in detention after trying to impose martial law in the South. The change of governments, she said, has had no effect on North-South relations and new President Lee Jae-myung, a centrist in South Korean politics, “is not the kind of person who can change the course of history.”

She pointed out that Cho Hyon and Ahn Gyu-bok, “the heads of foreign affairs and defense who form the backbone of the Lee Jae-myung administration, unhesitatingly stated that they considered the North Korean regime and military to be their enemies.”

“As I emphasized a few days ago, there is a clear purpose for South Korean leaders to present a conciliatory image,” Kim said. “They must be unaware that the North Korea-South Korea relations they desire will never return to the way they were.”

She added that South Korea’s support for military exercises with the United States “directly threaten the security of our Republic” and “show the dual personalities of Seoul’s two-faced officials.

No matter who they are in South Korea, they must not forget that they are America’s most loyal dog.”

A separate article from the Korean Central News Network noted that “the enemy has relentlessly expanded the scale, format, methods, intensity, provocativeness and ferocity of the US-ROK joint military exercises.”

“No matter how many childish and devious tactics the enemy uses, the fixed and unchanging nature of the US-ROK joint military exercises, which are the longest-running war exercises on Earth, are the most blatant rehearsal of an aggressive war in terms of hostility.”

“As long as the hostile entities opposing the Republic remain unchanged, there will be no change in our determination to use our armed forces thoroughly and ruthlessly to respond to the military provocations of the hostile forces.”