North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong Rejects Seoul as Diplomatic Partner, Condemns U.S.–ROK Drills

North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong said Seoul “cannot be a diplomatic partner of the DPRK,” dismissing President Lee Jae Myung as “unfit to change the course of history.” Her remarks were carried late Wednesday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency after a rare meeting with senior foreign-ministry officials in Pyongyang. Kim ridiculed Lee’s recent Liberation Day pledge to restore trust with Pyongyang and revive the suspended 2018 inter-Korean military accord, calling such overtures a “pipe dream.” She said inter-Korean relations “will never return to the path desired by the ROK,” and branded Seoul “double-faced” for seeking dialogue while conducting the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint drills with the United States. The vice-department director instructed North Korea’s diplomats to take “immediate” countermeasures against what she described as the South’s hostility, without detailing specific steps. Her statement follows leader Kim Jong Un’s separate warning that the ongoing exercises demonstrate a U.S.–ROK intent to wage war and justify Pyongyang’s accelerated nuclear buildup.