Kim Jong Un’s sister calls Ukraine and South Korea ‘bad dogs bred by the US’

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, lashed out at Ukraine and South Korea on Tuesday in the wake of reports that Pyongyang is sending troops to Russia, calling the two countries “bad dogs bred by the U.S.” and threatening to unleash nuclear weapons.

In her statement to the Korean Central News Agency, the dictator’s sister warned that a “military provocation against a nuclear weapons state” could lead to a “horrible” and “unimaginable” situation.

She scorned Seoul and Kyiv’s “reckless remarks” about states with nuclear weapons — which she repeatedly said North Korea has — describing the two nations as “lunatics” who risk “the destruction of all the scum.”

“No one knows how our retaliation and revenge will be completed,” she said.

The furious statement follows reports from Kyiv and Seoul that North Korea is sending its soldiers to fight alongside Russia in its war against Ukraine. Both countries said that some 10,000 troops have been deployed to Russia, with pro-Kremlin military bloggers allegedly having filmed the troops at a military base.

Pyongyang and Moscow have stepped up their military cooperation since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in June.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that North Korea supports Russia because of the cash.

“I think North Korea is very poor. They will send their people to the front. To be honest, we already spotted officers, technical personnel, I think, in temporarily occupied territories,” Zelenskyy told several reporters in Kyiv on Monday.

“I think they sent the officers because their officers would understand what was going on first and then send the contingent. Because how to manage them, how to command them? I’m talking about language. I think these are serious difficulties,” the Ukrainian president said.

South Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations Hwang Joon-kook said that money aside, Russia could compensate North Korea for its support in the war with nuclear weapons technologies.

While North Korea denied its involvement in the war by calling the reports “groundless rumors” on Tuesday, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not confirm or deny the claims, and said Russia has the right to cooperate with North Korea as the cooperation is not directed at third countries.

Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report from Kyiv.