"Mutated Political Provocation"... North Korea's Kim Yo Jong Slams South Korea's Medical Equipment Aid

Again calls the "DMZ landmine incident" a "self-staged farce"

Kim Yo Jong, director of the General Affairs Department of North Korea's Workers' Party, criticized the South Korean government's push to provide medical equipment to North Korea on October 8, calling it "a mutated political provocation." She again claimed that the incident in which landmines planted by North Korean troops exploded on the western front of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), injuring South Korean soldiers, was a "self-staged farce," and mocked the medical equipment aid plan by linking it to the incident.

Kim Yo Jong, director of the General Affairs Department of North Korea's Workers' Party, took the floor as a discussant and said in a public speech that COVID-19 had entered North Korea from South Korea, threatening to consider a strong retaliatory response. Aug. 11, 2022. Yonhap News Agency

In a statement released that day through North Korea's Korean Central News Agency, Kim cited the South Korean government's submission of a request for sanctions exemption to the UN Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee to provide medical equipment, and its receipt of approval. She claimed that the plan was "an insult to our country, a mutated political provocation, and a grave violation of sovereignty that goes against our national law."

She called it "the next installment in a series of farces being staged alongside the self-staged farce over the 'landmine explosion,'" and denounced the medical equipment aid plan as "Part Two of the farce." In a statement on October 2, Kim had also criticized the government's account of the landmine explosion as "a new self-staged farce in Seoul." At the time, she mocked President Lee Jae-myung's remarks on easing military tensions as "Part Two of the self-staged farce"; that day, she used the same expression for the medical equipment aid plan.

Kim also cited remarks made the previous day by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young during a parliamentary audit. She claimed that "South Korean official Chung Dong-young himself admitted that it is difficult to conclude that this 'landmine explosion' was a deliberate attack by our republic." The previous day, in response to a question about the landmine incident at an audit by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Chung said, "I don't think we can yet identify it specifically as a landmine attack." The military had previously concluded that the explosion in the DMZ on September 21 was caused by landmines planted by North Korean troops south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).

Kim went on to say, "In the current situation, medical equipment provided by South Korea cannot enter our territory, and there is no way to force it in." She added, "The invariable position of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is that there will be no exchange or connection of any kind with South Korea, and that there is no need even to face it."

In May, the Ministry of Unification received sanctions exemption approval to provide medical equipment to Kangdong County Hospital in Pyongyang, North Korea, through the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare. However, no discussions about the aid have taken place with North Korea.

Regarding the matter, a Ministry of Unification official met with reporters at the Government Complex Seoul earlier that day, before Kim's statement was released, and said, "A general plan has to be submitted when applying for a sanctions exemption. We tentatively submitted a plan to ship the equipment out in November, but it is difficult because we have not yet held discussions with North Korea."

The official added, "We entered November as an approximate date because we had to provide a date," explaining, "There is no need to focus on the month of November." The official also said, "After February next year, we will consult with the United Nations to extend the exemption period."

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