Anchor: The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un unleashed harsh criticism over President Yoon Suk Yeol's New Year's Day address pledging to bolster extended deterrence against the North. In a statement laden with sarcasm, Kim Yo-jong blamed Seoul for providing Pyongyang with justification for its efforts to secure "more overwhelming" nuclear force.
Max Lee reports.

Report: The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slammed President Yoon Suk Yeol over his New Year's Day address in which he vowed to finalize the South Korea-U.S. extended deterrence system.

In the heavily sarcastic statement carried out by the North's Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, the vice minister of the Workers' Party credited Seoul's deterrence plan for once again justifying Pyongyang’s efforts to secure "more overwhelming" nuclear force.

She wryly said she "cordially welcomed" Yoon's pledge to continuously render “distinctive services” to the rapid development of the North's military, further crediting the South Korean leader of making security anxiety "commonplace" in his country. 

She went on to mock Yoon as a "special contributor" to the development of the North's military power.

Kim also touched on the inter-Korean policy of former president Moon Jae-in, claiming that the North, while caught up in Moon's peace drive, "lost a lot of time" that could have been used to enhance the regime's combat efficiency.

Kim also attributed her country’s confident and effective development of military power to the introduction of U.S. nuclear assets to the peninsula such as aircraft carriers, submarines among others.

Meanwhile, South Korea's defense ministry dismissed her statement as a "forced claim that makes no sense," adding that the South's military "will punish any North Korean provocation immediately, strongly and until the end."

The unification ministry also slammed Kim's remarks as an attempt to distort their desire to forcibly take the Peninsula and shift responsibility to South Korea for driving up tensions in the region.

The statement from Pyongyang comes in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s New Year's Day address in which he unveiled a plan to complete a sturdier deterrence system with the United States to counter North Korean threats in the new year.
Max Lee, KBS World Radio News.