[excerpt] Kim’s sister rejects US offer of dialogue with North Korea and vows more satellite launches
“The sovereignty of an independent state can never be an agenda item for negotiations, and therefore, (North Korea) will never sit face to face with the U.S. for that purpose,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. “(North Korea) will continue to make efforts to develop everything belonging to its sovereign rights and continue to exercise the sovereign rights, enjoyed by all the member states of the U.N., in a dignified manner without being restricted in the future, too,” she said. Multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from performing any launches using ballistic technology, such as satellite liftoffs and missile tests. But the North has argued it has sovereign rights to launch spy satellites and test-flight ballistic missiles to cope with what it calls U.S.-led military threats. It views major U.S.-South Korean military drills as invasion rehearsal and often reacts with its own weapons tests. Kim Yo Jong said the U.N. Security Council meeting last Monday was convened at “the gangster-like demand of the U.S. and its followers.” She said Thomas-Greenfield must first explain why U.S. strategic assets have frequently appeared at South Korean ports, rather than branding the North’s satellite launch as “illegal.” https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-kim-sister-us-spy-satellite-launch-1fb36f0c458b6beaf6e46c09eb78f793
