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Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, delivers a public speech in August 2022. / Yonhap

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, sharply criticized President Lee Jae-myung’s recent remark that the North had removed some of its propaganda loudspeakers, calling it “a baseless, unilateral assumption and a game of public opinion manipulation,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 14.

In a statement titled “Seoul’s hope is nothing but a foolish dream,” Kim declared, “We have never dismantled the loudspeakers deployed along the border, nor do we have any intention to do so.” Her comments came after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on August 9 that the North appeared to have removed some loudspeakers in response to the South’s actions.

On August 12, President Lee stated during a Cabinet meeting, “We have recently been removing loudspeakers toward the North. I don’t know if it’s across the board, but I heard the North has removed some as well. I hope both sides can dismantle all loudspeakers in line with each other’s actions.” He also expressed hope that mutual measures, such as suspending hostile broadcasts, could “gradually open channels for inter-Korean dialogue and communication.”

However, reports emerged that North Korea reinstalled one of the two loudspeakers it had taken down the previous day.

Kim also dismissed the significance of Seoul and Washington’s decision to adjust portions of their annual joint Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, set to begin on August 18, saying it “is not worthy of evaluation and will amount to nothing but a futile effort.” She accused the current South Korean administration of “trying to erase measures taken unilaterally under the Yoon Suk-yeol government and seeking praise as if it had accomplished something significant,” calling such moves “a vain daydream” that would not attract Pyongyang’s attention.

“Whether South Korea removes loudspeakers, halts broadcasts, delays or scales down drills, we do not care and have no interest,” Kim said, reiterating that Pyongyang has “no intention whatsoever of improving relations with the U.S.’s loyal servant and faithful ally, South Korea.” She added that this position “will be enshrined in our constitution in the future.”