Kim Yo-jong

Basically, each one of those being a big middle finger aimed at Donald Trump.

Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the aggressive nature of the drills doesn't change just because somebody made them shorter.

So it is Trump's art of the deal here.

Apparently, you make concessions to a country that hates us and is training to fight and kill us and get nothing in return.

Public executions, forced labor camps, a surveillance state that watches everything.

And he's brought his sister, Kim Yo Jong, into the inner circle.

She's become his most trusted enforcer.

Together, they've built a cult of personality that even surpasses their grandfathers.

The initial response from Pyongyang has been tepid.

Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, declared that North Korea has, quote, no interest and denied the claim that Kim and Trump are in the midst of communication.

Yesterday, a foreign ministry spokesperson blamed America's, quote, hostile policy.

Earlier today, South Korea's intelligence service said that there are possible signs of a dialogue between Pyongyang and D.C. and that a Trump-Kim summit could happen at any time.

Although in fairness, after Trump posted his social media Uh, screed saying that he was, you know, had very good ties with Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un's very powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, came out and said, actually, you know, casting doubt on whether there'd been any direct communication, saying that they still regarded the US as hostile, saying, uh, yesterday they were complaining about potential arms sales by the US to, to South Korea.

So it doesn't seem that the, that President Trump's move have paved the way for an imminent breakthrough, although obviously every, every little helps in this, in this tricky situation.

Kat, before I let you go, I have to ask about how South Korea is cultivating a deeper relationship with Japan, because I recall reading in the last week on the Bloomberg Terminal that SK Hynix is exploring ways to deepen its cooperation with the memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, has repeatedly rejected any negotiations premised on denuclearization.

If you remember, North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo Jong, said they're going to separate the issues of personal relationships between Trump and Kim Jong Un and the other U.S. policies towards North Korea as well.

So at the moment, it seems that talks between the two leaders could be likely, but Nothing really much will come out of it if they do happen, basically.

I mean, North Korea also remembers what happened before and in the lead up and after Hanoi.

So it doesn't need the U.S. and sanctions relief as it did several years ago.

So I think they're just going to sit back and, as Kim Yo-jong said in her statement, sort of You know, the relationship is good.

We don't close the door on engagement, but you need to offer more.

And we can talk about, you know, what all those the concessions would be even prior to getting in the agenda.

The, the current government is, uh, uh, very hopeful that it would be possible to entice the North Korean regime into being more friendly.

Uh, and the ideological enforcer in North Korea today is the dictator's sister, Kim Yo-jong, and she's-- every time that the South Korean, uh, government, this new South Korean government raises a olive branch, you know, she slaps them in the face.

Uh, the-to give you an idea of, um, how kind of the sort of the dream world that the current South Korean government is in about hoping for peace and comity in the peninsula.

They have, they have a Ministry of Unification-