North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has labeled South Korea as the “number one enemy” and called for a constitutional amendment to end his regime's efforts to unify the peninsula.
In a speech to the Supreme People's Assembly, North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, Kim said he believed reunification was no longer possible and accused South Korea of trying to incite regime change and secretly promote unification. .
In another sign of the rapid deterioration of inter-Korean relations, which ended the 1950-53 war with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, Kim said: “We don't want war, but we're not going to avoid it.” Ta.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency announced on Tuesday that North Korea will close three agencies that oversee unification and inter-Korean tourism: the Peaceful Unification Committee, the National Economic Cooperation Bureau, and the Mt. Kumgang International Tourism Bureau.
According to KCNA, the decision adopted by Congress stated that “two of the most hostile countries at war are currently in serious conflict on the Korean Peninsula.” “Korean unification can never be achieved in the Republic of Korea,'' the official name of South Korea.
Kim's comments drew immediate condemnation from South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, who accused North Korea of being “anti-national” by labeling South Korea a hostile country.
Yun also condemned North Korea's recent missile launches and live-fire exercises near its tense maritime border, warning that provocations would invite retaliation “double the scale.”
Kim's speech marks a departure from decades of official policy that has made reconciliation and unification the ultimate goal, despite frequent escalations of tension on the peninsula.
Some analysts believe that North Korea may be trying to justify the use of nuclear weapons in a future war by classifying South Korea as its number one enemy.
According to KCNA, Kim said a war would “devastate” South Korea and result in an “unimaginable” defeat for the United States, its biggest ally, which has about 30,000 troops stationed in the country.
“If a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, I think it is important to consider the issues of complete occupation, control, and recapture.” [South Korea] And incorporate it into the territory of our republic,” Kim said.
The recent deterioration in cross-border relations has caused alarm among some South Korea watchers.
In a report released last week on the U.S.-based 38 North Project, former State Department official Robert Carlin and nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker said the situation on the Korean peninsula was “deteriorating.”more dangerous The situation has not been like this since early June 1950, just before the start of the Korean War.
“It may sound overly dramatic, but we are just like his grandfather. [Kim Il-sung] In 1950, Kim Jong Un made the strategic decision to go to war.
“We don't know when or how Mr. Kim plans to pull the trigger, but the danger already goes far beyond the daily warnings in Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo about North Korea's 'provocations.' ”
According to Yonhap News, at a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party late last year, Kim Jong-un described North Korea and South Korea as “two nations that are hostile to each other.”
