Well, she - Kim Yo Jong - said they'd "soon take a next action", and that's just what they've done:
North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say.
The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action at the Korean border.
The site, which is in the North's territory, was opened in 2018 to help the two Koreas to communicate.
The liaison office has been empty since January due to Covid-19 restrictions.
It's a pointless gesture, though it helps to ramp up tension and generate a sense of threat - a familiar strategy when times are tough and the people need to be kept in line through fear. From the official Rodong Sinmun:
The General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) issued the following open report on Tuesday:
Our army is keeping a close watch on the current situation in which the north-south relations are turning worse and worse, and getting itself fully ready for providing a sure military guarantee to any external measures to be taken by the Party and government.
Our army will rapidly and thoroughly implement any decisions and orders of the Party and government.
We accepted from the United Front Department of the Party Central Committee and arms of the department in charge of the affairs with enemy an opinion on studying an action plan for taking measures to make the army advance again into the zones that had been demilitarized under the north-south agreement, turn the front line into a fortress and further heighten the military vigilance against the south.
We also accepted an opinion on opening many areas in the ground front and southwestern waters and taking a thorough-going security measure for positively cooperating with our people from all walks of life in their large-scale leaflet scattering struggle against the enemy that is expected to take place.
We will map out the military action plans for rapidly carrying out the said opinions to receive approval from the Party Central Military Commission.
Explicitly speaking once again, our army is on high alert to ensure a sure military guarantee for any external measures to be taken by the Party and the government.
The Daily NK, meanwhile, provides some useful background on why little sister Kim Yo Jong is going all out on the aggression:
Kim Yo Jong is taking a hard-line against South Korea as part of efforts to expand upon her “revolutionary achievements,” a key measure of leadership in the country, a high-level government official in North Korea recently told Daily NK.
“She can’t rule the country from the military like her brother [North Korean leader Kim Jong Un], so she is expanding her authority through the Propaganda and Agitation Department, just like her father [Kim Jong Il],” the source said on June 14.
In fact, Kim Jong Il solidified his role as the successor to his father by being promoted through the ranks within the Propaganda and Agitation Department.
Kim Jong Un, on the other hand, attended the Kim Il Sung Military University from 2002 to 2007 to better learn about his country’s military. As part of efforts to prepare him for the succession, he was called a “general of the Korean People’s Army” in Sept. 2010 – a year before his father died. Later, Kim further solidified his status as his father’s successor by commanding a military unit.
Kim Yo Jong is a woman and lacks a military background, which means she has had to gain political power in other ways. Daily NK’s source in the country said that Kim has focused on gaining “revolutionary achievements” through activities focused on South Korea that can be sold as “war-like” victories to the North Korean people....
South Korean activists have long sent leaflets over the 38th Parallel in North Korea. This time, however, North Korea quickly used the leaflets as a pretext to take a hard-line stance against the South. The quick shift to a hard-line stance seems to show how anxious North Korean authorities are.
“[Kim Yo Jong] is a member of the Paekdu bloodline so she can expand her power without the need for permission from other officials or organizations, but she needs to achieve something right now that will give her support from the entire people,” the source told Daily NK. “The authorities are focusing on promoting [Kim Yo Jong’s] achievements to party members, members of the military and the people to prevent revolutionary elders from causing any trouble.”
“Revolutionary elders” are key members of the communist party, military and other government agencies who acknowledge Kim’s authority to hand down ideology-based orders, but believe she does not have the experience to manage the intricacies of state affairs....
North Korea’s hard-line stance toward South Korea is expected to continue given that inter-Korean conflict is one way the country justifies cracking down on domestic unrest.
In other words, it's all about internal politics. But if it worries the South Korean government, and makes headlines across the world, well, that's an added bonus.
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