Anadolu staff
06 April 2026•Update: 06 April 2026
North Korea on Monday lauded South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s expression of regret over a drone incursion from the South.
Earlier in the day, Lee, in a rare move, expressed regret to North Korea over drone flights by individuals, saying they had triggered unnecessary military tensions with Pyongyang.
"Our government appreciated it as a very fortunate and wise behavior," Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement issued on the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"Our head of state commented on it as a manifestation of a frank and broad-minded man's attitude," the senior official in the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea said, urging Seoul to "stop any reckless provocation" against Pyongyang and "refrain from any attempt at contact, instead of paying lip-service to the utmost importance of peace and security."
Seoul "should be mindful that it will be forced to pay a price too much for it, as already warned, if such a provocation as violating the inalienable sovereignty of our state occurs again," she said.
Lee had made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting following last month’s indictment of three individuals accused of flying drones into North Korea between September and January, Yonhap News Agency reported.
"Although this was not an act by our government, I express regret to the North Korean side over the unnecessary military tension caused by such reckless behavior," he said.
Lee has repeatedly criticized the drone incursions, but this marked the first time he has expressed regret directly to North Korea.
"It is deeply regrettable that individuals carried out such provocative acts toward North Korea on their own," he said, calling such actions "unacceptable."
He added that such actions caused concerns among residents near border areas, noting that the incident had caused significant anxiety.
Lee has extended an olive branch to resume dialogue with North Korea since assuming office in June 2025, but Pyongyang has rebuffed the overtures, formally describing South Korea as the "most hostile state" last month.
