Kim Jong Un’s influential sister sends warning to U.S. as Biden administration arrive in Asia

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent an eerie message to the United States on Tuesday, as Biden administration officials tried, unsuccessfully, to restart talks with North Korea

With Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arriving in the region for high-level talks in Japan and South Korea, Kim Yo Jung’s comments, carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, are the first reactions from Pyongyang since President Joe Biden took office.

“We take this opportunity to warn the new U.S. administration trying hard to give off [gun] powder smell in our land,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement referencing joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises in the region.

“If the U.S. wants to sleep in peace for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step,” she added, according to an English translation.

Biden administration officials, Blinken and Austin, in their first trip abroad under Biden’s leadership, plans to reaffirm U.S. commitments in the region and discuss ongoing security challenges, including North Korea. They arrived in Japan on Tuesday and will travel to South Korea on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the Biden administration to not let up on the crippling economic pressure placed on North Korea.

“I hope that this administration will engage with North Korea with the same massive sanctions regime that we did, which put real pressure on Chairman Kim to come to the table,” Pompeo told Fox Business on Sunday.

The Trump administration had made some initial progress with North Korea, but negotiations broke down after the U.S. refused to grant sanctions relief in exchange for Pyongyang’s dismantling of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

Kim Jong Un, who came into power in 2011, has launched more than 100 missiles and conducted four nuclear weapons tests.