The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said her country will never see South Korea as a partner for diplomacy

Kim Yo Jong, a senior official on the State Affairs Commission, called South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s push for improved ties a “pipe dream,” according to a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency. She accused Lee or trying to create an “amicable image” while hosting a large-scale military exercise with the United States.

Kim said the "security environment" around North Korea is "getting more serious day by day" and "requires us to make a radical and swift change in the existing military theory and practice and rapid expansion of nuclearization," the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported, paraphrasing his remarks.