Kim Yo Jong Accuses South Korea of “Dual Personality” Amid Rising Tensions Over U.S. Military Drills

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, lashed out at South Korea on Wednesday, accusing President Lee Jae Myung and his administration of displaying a “dual personality” by talking about peace while conducting joint military exercises with the United States. Her remarks, carried by North Korean state media KCNA, underscore Pyongyang’s deepening frustration with Seoul’s balancing act between outreach and deterrence.

PHOTO CREDIT: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT / PUBLIC DOMAIN

The criticism comes as South Korea and the United States launched large-scale joint drills this week, featuring upgraded strategies to counter growing North Korean nuclear threats. Pyongyang has long denounced such exercises as dress rehearsals for invasion, even as Seoul and Washington insist the drills are defensive in nature.

Kim Yo Jong, widely seen as her brother’s most powerful confidante and a central figure in North Korea’s propaganda efforts, said Lee’s approach was contradictory and insincere. “The (South Korean) government continues to speak rambling pretence about peace and improving relations in order to lay the blame on us for inter-Korean relations never returning again,” she declared. She went further, dismissing Lee as incapable of reversing what she called the “flow of history” defined by confrontation and mistrust.

Seoul’s Mixed Signals

Since taking office in June, President Lee Jae Myung has sought to open new channels with Pyongyang, pursuing a cautious engagement policy even as he maintains South Korea’s decades-old alliance with Washington. His administration has floated partial implementation of past inter-Korean agreements, signaling an interest in confidence-building measures.

Just this week, Lee ordered the removal of loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone that for years broadcast anti-North Korean propaganda across the border — a goodwill step meant to ease tensions. Still, such gestures have been met with sharp skepticism in Pyongyang.

U.S. and South Korean troops conduct joint river crossing training | PFC. WILFRED SALTERS / U.S. ARMY / PUBLIC DOMAIN

Kim Yo Jong’s dismissal highlights the entrenched distrust between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war after the 1950–1953 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. For North Korea, U.S.-South Korean drills are viewed not just as military maneuvers but as existential threats — a justification Pyongyang often uses to advance its weapons programs.

North Korea’s Escalating Rhetoric

Her comments closely followed a fiery statement from Kim Jong Un himself. On Tuesday, he called the joint drills an “obvious expression of their will to provoke war” and doubled down on his regime’s commitment to expanding nuclear capabilities.

These warnings align with North Korea’s recent pattern of escalating rhetoric whenever Seoul and Washington conduct joint military activities. In the past, Pyongyang has often punctuated its criticism with ballistic missile launches or other weapons tests designed to showcase its growing arsenal.

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Observers note that Kim Yo Jong’s remarks, delivered through official state media, serve a dual purpose: rallying domestic support around the regime’s hardline stance and signaling to the outside world that North Korea has little faith in Seoul’s diplomatic overtures.

The Road Ahead

For South Korea’s Lee administration, the challenge is threading a narrow path between demonstrating deterrence alongside the United States and pursuing limited engagement with Pyongyang. While removing border loudspeakers and discussing partial agreements may be seen as olive branches, the continuation of military drills reinforces the perception in the North that Seoul is unwilling to break from Washington’s security umbrella.

Analysts suggest Pyongyang’s rhetoric may foreshadow renewed military provocations in the coming weeks, particularly as North Korea seeks leverage in a region where U.S. alliances are tightening and China’s role remains uncertain.

For now, Kim Yo Jong’s biting words are a reminder that efforts to thaw inter-Korean relations remain on shaky ground. As long as joint drills persist and mistrust dominates the peninsula, both sides appear locked in a cycle of confrontation that neither gestures of goodwill nor fiery denunciations have managed to break.