PYONGYANG, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has furiously condemned U.S. Vice President Mike Pence for verbally attacking the sister of top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un by labeling her as what he called "the center of a vicious regime".
Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, attended the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea on Feb. 9.
Pence, who also attended the opening ceremony of the games, reportedly said at a conservative group meeting in Maryland State on Feb. 23 that Kim Yo Jong, who is officially a first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), is "the center of a vicious regime" and "a central pillar of the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet."
A spokesman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement issued late Saturday night that Pence's speech was a "disgraceful behavior" and "an act of rogue without an equal in the world."
"Unpardonable are that Pence dared to defame the inviolable DPRK government, terming it 'dictatorial regime,' and absurdly slandered our congratulatory missions including the first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee," the spokesman said in the statement, read out by a stern-faced male broadcaster at the Korean Central Television.
He said the DPRK's army and people are "sharing their destinies with their leader and their social system to find out and punish without mercy those insulting the dignity of the supreme leadership and the social system of the DPRK no matter whoever and wherever they are."
The statement came before the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics which is due to be held in PyeongChang on Sunday evening.
The daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, will attend the ceremony, so will a high-level delegation from the DPRK.
The spokesman ruled out any contact with the U.S. side at the closing ceremony by the DPRK delegation, saying, "We will never have face-to-face talks with them even after 100 years or 200 years."
