North Korea says South Korea's peace overtures a 'pipedream'

FILE PHOTO: Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, arrives at the Vostochny Сosmodrome before a meeting of Russia's President Vladimir Putin with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, September 13, 2023. Sputnik/Vladimir Smirnov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) -The North Korean leader's powerful sister said on Thursday that the country has never taken down propaganda loudspeakers and will not do so, calling South Korea's belief that Pyongyang was responding to its peace overtures a "pipedream."

Kim Yo Jong, who is a senior official in the North's ruling Workers' Party, also said adjustments made to the plan for annual joint military drills by South Korea and the U.S. were a "futile" move that did not change the allies' hostile intent.