North Korea has dismissed positive analyses within South Korea regarding a statement by Kim Yo-jong, senior deputy director of the Workers' Party's General Affairs Department, calling them "wishful interpretation of a dream" while reaffirming its "hostile two-state" stance.
Jang Kum-chol, first vice minister of North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and director of the Workers' Party's Bureau 10, issued a statement in his own name through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the previous day. "If the South Korean side takes our government's swift response as an 'unusually friendly reaction' or 'rapid mutual confirmation of intent between leaders' and spouts such nonsensical talk, they are nothing but stupid fools engaging in 'wishful interpretation of a dream,'" he said in a blistering attack.
Jang said the "core of the subject" in Kim Yo-jong's earlier statement "was a clear warning." He described what he called the "basic storyline of the statement" as: "Well done — if you want to live safely, you should know how to honestly admit your own wrongdoing"; "If you want to live safely, prevent a recurrence"; "If you keep acting up in front of us, it won't be fun"; and "If you want to live comfortably, stop messing with us!"
"The identity of South Korea as the most hostile adversary state can never change, no matter what its officials say or do," Jang added.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the 8th, North Korea also launched an unidentified projectile from the Pyongyang area the previous day. Analysts suggest the launch was a show of military force to make its hostile stance toward South Korea unmistakably clear.
Earlier on the 6th, after President Lee Jae-myung expressed regret to the North regarding the unmanned aerial vehicle incident, Kim Yo-jong issued a statement approximately 10 hours later saying, "Our head of state (Chairman of State Affairs Kim Jong-un) assessed this as 'showing the attitude of an honest and bold person.'" South Korea's Ministry of Unification subsequently evaluated this as "meaningful progress toward peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula."