North Korea warns U.S. not to 'cause a stink' before Seoul meeting

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the sister of dictator Kim Jong Un, is cautioning the United States about its annual military training exercises with South Korean forces – as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrives in rival South Korea for talks. 

"We take this opportunity to warn the new U.S. administration trying hard to give off powder smell in our land," Kim Yo Jung said Tuesday, according to Reuters. "If it wants to sleep in peace for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step."

Kim's speech was transmitted over state television in North Korea.

The U.S.-South Korean joint military drills began earlier this month, albeit scaled back due to the Coronavirus. The drills are mostly defensive in nature and consist of tabletop exercises rather than the usual field training.

“War drills and hostility can never go with dialogue and cooperation,” Kim Yo Jong said.

The war drills are just another part of the long list of animosities between the North and South Korean governments.

Their trip will involve meetings with both South Korea and Japan to smooth relations between the two nations and discuss growing threats from North Korea, China, and ways to respond, according to Foreign Policy Magazine.