[Breaking] Kim Yo Jong: "Trump's words make war games a hollow shell... the fate of a scarecrow"

Kim Yo Jong, a key figure in North Korea's leadership and sister to leader Kim Jong Un, has launched a scathing attack on the reduced scale of the joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS). She described the drills as a "hollow shell" and mocked Seoul's position following the U.S. decision to curtail them.

"With just one word from Trump, Seoul has been placed in a pitiful situation where it has to abandon the 'war games' it enjoyed the most," Kim stated in a commentary titled 'Seoul's pitiful situation, unable to engage in the war games it enjoyed so much.' She asserted that the U.S. decision has starkly illustrated the "master-subordinate" relationship within the "ROK-U.S. alliance," which Seoul had boasted about.

Kim further criticized the exercises as a "half-baked practice" that was "cut off at the torso" without prior consultation, calling it unprecedented. She accused South Korea of being a "puppet army" that cannot protest even when the U.S. military withdraws its forces, due to relinquishing command authority to its "master." "A country whose national security is shaken entirely by a single reduction in joint military exercises is precisely South Korea, which entrusts its defense and security to foreign powers while claiming to have more than enough ability to defend itself," she added.

The North Korean official also targeted South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, accusing him of "duplicitous behavior." She pointed to Lee's remarks praising the U.S. decision as "respectful" and a "thoughtful, big decision" while simultaneously discussing "self-defense" and "independent military power" to prepare for "worst-case scenarios." Kim suggested that South Korea's security is not free and that appeasing the U.S. might require sacrificing even more territory. She advised Seoul to "learn its place" in its subordinate position and seek survival strategies accordingly.