Kim Yo-jong Denies "Landmine Explosion Is Seoul’s Self-Directed Clown Act"... Instead Issues Threats of "Provocation and Retaliation"

Kim Yo-jong, head of the Organizational Leadership Department of North Korea’s Workers’ Party and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed the recent landmine explosion incident near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as a “self-staged farce by Seoul.” This sharply contradicted the announcement by South Korea’s military authorities, who asserted that North Korea was most likely responsible for the incident. She also threatened “merciless retaliation.”

On September 30, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Yo-jong issued a statement the previous day under the title, “Those behind the provocation must be prepared to pay the price for their self-staged farce.”

Referring not only to the current DMZ landmine explosion but also to the so-called “wooden-box mine” incident of 2015, Kim insisted, “In terms of timing and method, this is a blatant self-fabricated incident that is eerily reminiscent of the wooden-box mine case a decade ago that shook the public,” adding, “Even back then, the puppet regime (South Korea) tried to forcibly link the landmine explosion incident in the western border area to us and used it as a pretext to continuously escalate tensions.” At that time, North Korea immediately dismissed the incident as a “fabrication,” but later, after high-level inter-Korean talks, expressed “regret.”

Kim further lashed out at opposition parties—such as the People Power Party—who are now calling for the resumption of anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts, saying, “The Korean people’s act of putting blame on others first and manufacturing ‘material evidence’ to prove it truly epitomizes absurdity and sophistry.”

She added that the border fortification work North Korea has carried out since declaring its “hostile two-state policy” is “nothing more than an exercise of absolute sovereignty, completely unrelated to any military aims,” and asserted, “Our soldiers have never once crossed the border. These accusations are clearly groundless and provocative.”

Kim concluded by warning, “We will not merely watch as worrisome hostile acts unfold near the border,” and “If even a single bullet lands on our territory, they should be prepared for severe consequences.” She added, “If the thuggish South Korean army resorts to actual shooting rather than warning shots, our border units will immediately and mercilessly retaliate,” emphasizing that “Instructions for decisive response have already been issued to our border defense divisions; given the recent frequency of provocations by South Korea’s 21st Infantry Division of the 3rd Corps in the DMZ sector, our military has decided to reinforce tactical countermeasures in that direction.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.