South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, the US, Sept. 20, 2023. (Reuters)
North Korea released scathing criticism filled with abusive language on Monday in response to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's denunciation of internationally prohibited, potential military transactions between Moscow and Pyongyang during his speech at the UN General Assembly. South Korea, however, has opted to disregard the criticism, considering it unworthy of a response.
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency, primarily oriented toward an international audience, released a statement attributed to an individual named Kim Yun-mi, with their official title undisclosed.
The statement referred to Yoon without affording him the title of "president" and referred to him by his full name instead, along with derogatory terms like "puppet traitor."
"It was truly ludicrous to witness a puppet, with no basic political knowledge and no fundamental understanding of international relations, blindly making outrageous remarks while voluntarily assuming the role of an American bugle and loudspeaker," a Korean-language statement read.
"No one in the world pays heed to the hysterical lunacy of Yoon Suk Yeol, a puppet traitor who only carries disgraceful labels such as 'political immaturity,' 'diplomatic ineptitude,' and 'ignorantly incompetent ruler.'"
The statement falsely asserted that Yoon had criticized the "traditional cooperative relations" between North Korea and Russia in his speech at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 21.
At the UN General Assembly, Yoon specifically denounced the potential illicit military ties and trade between the two countries, which drew attention due to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent extensive trip to the Russian Far East.
The high-stakes summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome on Sept. 13 has been analyzed as being a venue to facilitate reciprocal deals.
Russia could share technology with North Korea to aid its weapons development, while North Korea could provide weapons to support Russia's unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, such agreements have been expressly prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions, and it's worth noting that Russia, as one of the five veto-wielding and permanent members, approved the resolutions.
North Korea's statement also harshly criticized Yoon for changing the traditional order in which South Korea, China and Japan were mentioned. South Korea has recently adopted the sequence "South Korea, Japan and China" as prepares to host a trilateral summit with these East Asian countries and seeks to enhance its relations with Japan.
The statement brushed off the altered order as "childish play," emphasizing that it is "abundantly clear that someone with a skull like a cesspit cannot comprehend the profound and significant meaning behind the development of friendly relations" between North Korea and Russia.
However, notably missing from the statement was any reference to the rearrangement of the order of mentioning North Korea and Russia. While South Korea had typically mentioned North Korea before Russia, Yoon broke from this tradition by addressing Russia before North Korea during his speech.
South Korea's Unification Ministry on Monday declined to respond to the statement.
"North Korea's use of derogatory language and criticism directed at our country's leader through an unidentified individual shows the vulgar nature of the North Korean regime, which is lacking in basic courtesy and common sense," the spokesperson for South Korea's Unification Ministry Koo Byung-sam told a televised press briefing.
"Therefore, we see no value in mentioning it."
North Korean state media outlets have increased their frequency of denouncing Yoon since the signing of the Washington Declaration with US President Biden in late April, according to data released from the Unification Ministry. From May 2022, when the Yoon administration was inaugurated, until Aug. 15 this year, North Korean state media published a total of 45 criticisms of Yoon. However, a significant portion of these, specifically 38 criticisms, occurred between May and mid-August 2023.
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