Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said she is “completely unaware” whether her brother communicated with US President Donald Trump, as Trump claimed this week.
Kim, one of North Korea’s top officials, acknowledged that her brother has a “great relationship” with Trump and “personally has good memories and feelings” for him. But in a statement released on state media Wednesday, she stopped short of confirming Trump’s claim of recent contact.
Trump told reporters Monday that Kim Jong Un had responded to his request for a conversation, shortly after the president called for reducing joint military drills with South Korea, a close and long-standing US ally. Trump did not elaborate on the contact. He added Wednesday that he intends to meet Kim later this year, but he didn’t offer details and would not say whether he has exchanged any letters with North Korea’s leader.
In her statement, Kim Yo Jong said of the reported “communication” between Trump and her brother: “I am not aware of it at all, and perhaps it may be the only thing I do not know as regards the foreign policy of our supreme leadership.”
Joint military drills have long irritated North Korea, and Kim Yo Jong said reducing them does not change “the provocative and offensive nature of them,” even though the US and South Korea frequently emphasize their defensive nature. Scaling the drills back should not be seen as “measure of goodwill,” Kim added.
