Faizel Patel – 18/03/2021
Radio Islam’s Asia Pacific correspondent Kiru Naidoo says Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s eerie message aimed at the Biden administration can be interpreted as a confrontational stance against the US.
Kim’s comments, carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, are the first reactions from Pyongyang since President Joe Biden took office, and coincides with the arrival of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the region.
In the message Kim has warned the new U.S. administration of “trying hard to give off [gun] powder smell in our land” referencing joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises in the region.
Naidoo says the remarks were specific to Joe Biden himself.
“The statement says, ‘If it [the U.S.] wants to sleep in peace for the coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step.’ This is a reference to cordite that’s used in explosives, smells that have been wafting across the border between North and South Korea.”
Naidoo says Kim is very close to her brother and speaks on his behalf.
“This could be a whole range of different signals that we’re getting. It’s either she’s being put forward as a successor; alternatively because North Korea is such a secretive state, it could well be that Kim himself may not be a in position either through illness or otherwise to be able to make these public statements.”
Naidoo also shared news updates about Taiwan ramping up its military arsenal and the decision of the Philippines government to shut down the country as the number of Coronavirus cases continue to climb.
Listen to the Asia Pacific Report with Kiru Naidoo
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