North Korean leader's sister calls Seoul 'despicable' after DMZ apology demand

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Mar 2, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Jorge Silva/Pool)

SEOUL: Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, called South Korea "despicable" on Friday (Sep 2) after Seoul demanded an apology over a demilitarised zone blast that wounded three of its soldiers .

Pyongyang this week denied being behind a landmine blast that caused severe injuries to three soldiers last month inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), the heavily mined buffer dividing the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice.

South Korea's military demanded an official apology this week , calling the incident "a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement".

In the first public response from Pyongyang, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said South Korea "even called for an apology" and added it is "really despicable".

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The powerful North Korean figure's statement could dampen any hopes of smoother relations between the neighbours after South Korea's dovish President Lee Jae Myung had urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue despite his military's call for an apology.

Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Since 2024, after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un designated South Korea as his country's "principal enemy," Pyongyang's military has laid mines and built anti-tank barriers along the frontier as part of efforts to permanently seal it off.

The North Korean mines were believed to have been laid as part of Pyongyang's border fortification work, according to South Korea's defence minister Kang Shin-chul.

The US-led United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean War armistice and the southern side of the DMZ, also said Wednesday it had found an active North Korean anti-personnel mine on the South Korean side of the border.

South Korea's Lee has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol since taking power in June 2025, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions.

He said Thursday that he hoped the North would "join us now on the path of restoring trust and resuming dialogue, following a long interruption" - a day after the military demanded an apology.

"My administration will consistently pursue practical measures to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas," Lee said.

However, Kim Yo Jong ridiculed Lee's latest overture, calling it "the climax of the farce that everyone should watch."

Resuming blaring K-pop music - which the isolated North has long bristled at - across the border has been floated by analysts as a possible response to last month's blast.

But others say Seoul has few realistic options for retaliation without further burdening border residents already exposed to disruption and danger.

The flare-up comes as US President Donald Trump's recent overtures to Pyongyang raised concerns that Seoul, an ally of Washington, could be sidelined in potential nuclear talks involving the North, which is backed by Russia as well as China.

Lee said last month that Washington should seek a freeze, rather than the immediate elimination, of North Korea's nuclear programme and offer sanctions relief in return.

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