North Korea warns US against 'causing a stink' ahead of Seoul visit
Ahead of the new US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to South
Korea, Pyongyang has issued a warning to the allied countries condemning their
joint military exercises.
In a statement carried by state news agency KCNA on Tuesday, Kim Yo
Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, threatened to
withdraw from a 2018 military agreement and accused the new administration in
Washington of causing trouble.
"We take this opportunity to
warn the new U.S. administration trying hard to give off powder smell in our
land," Kim Yo Jong was quoted as saying.
"If it wants to sleep in peace
for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first
step."
The armed forces of the US and South Korea began their spring military
drills last week, which have been scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic
and ongoing diplomacy disputes over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme.
Pyongyang has previously slammed similar manoeuvres as being part of
plans to invade North Korea. Both the US and South Korea deny that is the case.
"It is the conclusion drawn by
us once again that we have nothing to talk [about] with them," Kim Yo Jong
said, according to KCNA.
"War drill and hostility can
never go with dialogue and cooperation."
Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to travel
from Japan to South Korea on Wednesday.
