This June 9, 2020 photograph shows a guard post (top) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea looking out at a military fence (bottom) of the Republic of Korea as seen from the border city of Paju. (STR / YONHAP / AFP)

PYONGYANG – It is high time to break with the authorities of the Republic of Korea and retaliate with possible military force against the ROK, a senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Saturday.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jong, first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and younger sister of DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, said she had given instructions for decisive action to be taken.

A day into the warning, the ROK’s Unification Ministry said the DPRK should honor past agreements signed between the two countries.

"The South and the North should try to honor all inter-Korean agreements reached," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. "The government is taking the current situation seriously."

The ROK is also referred to as South Korea and the DPRK, North Korea.

The army "will determine something for cooling down our people's resentment and surely carry out it", said Kim Yo-jong

The DPRK has repeatedly lashed out at the ROK since last week in protest against anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent by defectors and activists across the border. Pyongyang has also closed its joint liaison office and cut off all communication lines with Seoul.

"If I drop a hint of our next plan the South Korean authorities are anxious about, the right to taking the next action against the enemy will be entrusted to the General Staff of our army," Kim Yo-jong said on Saturday.

The army "will determine something for cooling down our people's resentment and surely carry out it", she added.

READ MORE: DPRK warns of retaliation as mutual trust with ROK fades

Kim also said she fully supported the statement issued Friday by Jang Kum-chol, director of the United Front Department of the Central Committee of the WPK, who said Pyongyang has lost all confidence in the ROK government and warned of "regretful and painful" times ahead.

Kim pointed out that "the judgment that we should force the betrayers and human scum to pay the dearest price for their crimes and the retaliatory action plans we have made on this basis have become a firm public opinion at home."  

‘Nonsensical’ Talk

A senior DPRK diplomat, meanwhile, has urged the ROK to stop "nonsensical" talk about denuclearization.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s soldiers look towards the demilitarized zone in Paju, the Republic of Korea. (SEONGJOON CHO / BLOOMBERG)

Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the Department of US Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency Saturday that "it is really preposterous to hear the balderdash of South Korean authorities – who do not have either any qualification to discuss or the position to poke their noses into the matters between the DPRK and the US, to say nothing of nuclear issues – commenting on the resumption of DPRK-US dialogue and interpreting the issue of denuclearization at their own choice.”

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It is not because there is not a mediator that the DPRK-US dialogue has broken down and the denuclearization blown off, but it is because "conditions are not met" for denuclearization, said Kwon.

Negotiations between the DPRK and the US were stalled after the summit between the top leaders of the two countries in Hanoi in February last year failed to reach an agreement on the denuclearization process in the Korean Peninsula.

"I want to make it clear that we will continue to build up our force in order to overpower the persistent threats from the United States, and such efforts of ours are in fact continuing at this point of time," said Kwon.

"If they want to deal with us, they will have to approach us after racking their brains and finding a different method," as "we are not what we were two years ago," he added.

*With inputs from Reuters