North Korea has abolished a key government agency tasked with managing relations with South Korea, state media reported on Tuesday, as authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un said he would no longer pursue reconciliation with his rival.
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said the decision to abolish the agency responsible for dialogue and cooperation with South Korea was made during a meeting of the country's rubber stamp parliament on Monday.
The Supreme People's Assembly said in a statement that the two Koreas are currently in a “serious conflict” and that it would be a grave mistake for North Korea to consider South Korea as a diplomatic partner.
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“The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the National Economic Cooperation Bureau, and the (Kumgangsan) International Tourism Bureau, which were tools for (North-South) dialogue, negotiation, and cooperation, will be abolished,” the parliament said. The North Korean government said it would take “practical steps” to implement the decision.
In his speech to Congress, Kim accused South Korea and the United States of escalating tensions in the region. He said it has become impossible for North Korea to pursue reconciliation and peaceful unification with South Korea.
According to KCNA, he called on Congress to rewrite North Korea's constitution at its next session to define South Korea as North Korea's “number one adversary.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th Enlarged General Assembly of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) held in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 1, 2023 (North Korea's Korean Central News Agency) Published photo) Korean Central News Agency). (Korea Central News Agency, via Reuters)
Since its establishment in 1961, the National Committee for Peaceful Reunification has become North Korea's main institution dealing with inter-Korean issues.
The National Economic Cooperation Administration and the Kumgangsan International Tourism Bureau were supposed to handle joint economic and tourism projects between the two Koreas during the brief period of inter-Korean reconciliation in the 2000s. Such projects have been halted for years as rivalries soured over North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and have been banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions against North Korea that have been strengthened since 2016.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached their highest point in years after Mr. Kim stepped up arms demonstrations in recent months. The United States and its allies South Korea and Japan responded by stepping up joint military exercises and reinforcing their nuclear deterrence strategies, which Kim has denounced as a rehearsal for invasion.
Some experts say North Korea may try to increase pressure further in an election year in South Korea and the United States.
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Earlier this month, North Korea fired a barrage of artillery shells near its disputed western maritime border with South Korea, prompting South Korea to conduct similar fire drills in the same area. Kim also used last week's political meeting to verbally threaten South Korea, defining it as North Korea's “main enemy” and threatening to annihilate it if provoked.
