South Korea’s Presidential Office Calls for End to North Korean Criticism

South Korea’s presidential Blue House has urged North Korea to stop making ‘derogatory remarks’ towards Seoul, following a recent commentary by Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Blue House made the call in response to Kim’s criticism of South Korea’s decision to scale back joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.

In a statement reported by Yonhap News Agency, the Blue House said that ‘derogatory remarks toward our government and president do not help in building mutual trust.’ The statement added that the South Korean government ‘calls on the North to halt unnecessary criticism and march together toward peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.’

The Blue House’s remarks came in response to a commentary by Kim, in which she derided Seoul as a ‘puppet’ of the United States and accused President Lee Jae Myung of making ‘double-dealing remarks.’ Kim also criticized South Korea’s decision to cut short the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise, saying that it had ‘placed Seoul in a poor plight of discontinuing the ‘war game’ it liked very much.’

The exchange comes after U.S. President Donald Trump called for the allies’ joint military drills to be ‘substantially reduced’ in a Truth Social post Sunday. Trump said that the drills were expensive and ‘send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile’ to North Korea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff subsequently announced that the two sides would cut short the ongoing exercise by almost a week.

The directive has been widely seen as an effort by Trump to restart diplomacy with the North. On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that he expected to meet Kim Jong Un this year. However, North Korea has downplayed the significance of the exercise reduction, with Kim Yo Jong calling it ‘unworthy of comment.’

In a separate development, North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, marking the North’s third missile launch in less than two weeks. The Blue House reiterated its commitment to pursuing peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas, saying that ‘as a party directly involved in building peace on the Korean Peninsula, the government will continue its close cooperation with the U.S. while making proactive efforts to help resume North Korea-U.S. dialogue as a ‘pacemaker.’