South Korea Holds Meeting With The United States, North Korea Is Said To Carry Out Provocation

JAKARTA - North Korea has criticized Seoul and Washington following President Joe Biden's speech and the planned meeting of the two countries on May 21, which was deemed to have 'violated' North Korea's waiting-and-seeing attitude.

Experts say Pyongyang may be trying to destabilize its neighbors and the United States with a number of provocations, ahead of a meeting between Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. This could involve shutting down North Korean organizations themselves in inter-Korean relations or launching short-range missiles.

North Korean criticism was conveyed by Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was published by the North Korean news agency KCNA.

In his first speech to Congress, President Joe Biden called the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran a serious threat to American security and world security. He promised to solve the problem with diplomacy and decisive prevention.

A statement that North Korea considers a grave mistake. North Korean Foreign Ministry Director-General for United States Affairs Kwon Jong-gun said Biden's statement could create a very serious situation.

Kwon said diplomacy and decisive deterrence were a false plank to cover up his hostile actions, as well as a way to present a nuclear threat to the North. He said North Korean policy would take appropriate action.

"Now that the heart of the new US DPRK policy has become clear, we will be forced to press the appropriate measures, and over time the United States will find itself in a very serious situation," said Kwon. As reported by the Korea Times, Monday 3 May DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In a separate press release, North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned a statement last week by US Secretary of State Ned Price, who expressed concern over the human rights situation in North Korea. Price also called North Korea's closed regime one of the most repressive and totalitarian countries in the world.

"This is a clear sign that they are preparing for an all-out fight with the DPRK, and it is also a clear answer to how we should approach the new government in the United States," the statement read.

Meanwhile, Kim Yo-Jong criticized South Korea for letting a North Korean defector organization fly anti-Kim Jong-un flyers to North Korea last week.

In his statement, Kim called this an intolerable provocation. Kim also said that South Korean authorities have once again failed to stop reckless actions against North Korean defectors.

The organization in question is Fighters for a Free North Korea, a group of North Korean defectors, claiming to have flown a balloon carrying leaflets, booklets, and US dollars across the border on Friday last week.

This comes weeks after South Korea criminalized such acts by law, despite criticism from some US lawmakers and international rights groups.

Hours after Kim Yo-jong's comments, South Korea's Unification Ministry announced that the police were forming a special team to investigate the leaflet case.

North Korean reaction

The warming conditions on the Korean Peninsula, according to some observers, have the potential to cause provocation from North Korea, which targets South Korea and the United States.

"North Korea announced plans to increase its military power and nuclear capabilities during the eighth ruling Korean Workers' Party Congress in January, and will stick to its itinerary to build weapons," said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute.

"For this, North Korea will likely use Joe Biden's recent statement as a pretext, and carry out some simple provocations such as launching short-range missiles before the South Korea-US summit," Cheong explained.

Cheong said Pyongyang was expected to limit the level of its provocation given the relatively moderate expression in a statement from the director of the North Korean foreign ministry. According to him, Kwon, who is known as a hardline, suppressed his rhetoric with Biden as the head of the authority and his statement as a mistake, rather than a provocation.

"Given that the South Korea-US summit is imminent, there is the possibility of one or two short-range missile launches by Pyongyang to pressure Seoul into exercising its influence on Washington's North Korean policy," Cheong said.

Regarding Kim Yo-jong's statement regarding the leaflet, Cheong said North Korea could remove its organization in inter-Korean relations, including the Committee for Korean Peace Reunification (CPRK).

"Kim did not specify what reaction would occur, and that means North Korea may wait for the South Korean government's response before taking any further steps," Kim said.

"In his previous remarks, he provided instructions for eliminating CPRK and other South Korean-related organizations, and it is possible that Pyongyang is considering this as a viable option," he explained.

To note, in June last year, North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in Gaeseong, after Kim Yo-jong denounced the campaign of sending leaflets by defectors.