Seoul:
Kim Jong Un told North Korean soldiers that South Korea was a “foreign” country, state media reported on Friday, saying North Korea had abandoned any idea of unification.
Despite officially remaining at war, the two Koreas have long defined their relationship as a “special relationship'' rather than a relationship between nations, with the goal of eventual unification.
But in January, Kim defined Seoul as his country's “main enemy” and on Friday described relations with South Korea as an “evil relationship” that ended in a road bombing between the two countries.
After months of laying new mines and tightening security on its border, North Korea this week blew up roads and railways connecting the North and the South, calling the South a “hostile” state under its constitution. announced that it had been stipulated.
read | North Korea's constitutional amendment calls South Korea a “hostile country”
According to state media, Kim told the Korean People's Army's Second Corps, “Our military should once again keep in mind the hard fact that (South Korea) is a foreign country and clearly a hostile country.'' .
Kim said dynamizing roads and railways this week would mean “the end of the evil relationship with Seoul” as well as “the complete removal of the irrational idea of unification.”
He added that North Korea's military would strike back if necessary “against our enemies, not our own people,” according to a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea held a key meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament last week, and experts widely expected the constitution to be amended.
According to KCNA, Kim on Thursday also examined “important documents” outlining North Korea's “military action plans to deal with various developments in the situation.”
Pyongyang's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a photo of Kim issuing orders in front of a large, blurry map while senior officials diligently took notes.
The current armistice agreement that ended active fighting during the 1950-1953 Korean War is similar to “an armistice agreement between two regimes claiming sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula,” according to the Korean Institute for Unification. said Hong Min, a senior analyst at .
read |Why is North Korea blowing up roads and railways in the South?
But “this system may lose its relevance” as North Korea could change its mind about its borders, he told AFP.
“Such a transition would mean a shift from a temporary military demarcation line under ceasefire to a formal border system between states,” he added.
Copyright dispute?
South Korea's military on Tuesday released footage of North Korean soldiers dynamizing roads and railways, and the South Korean government later said North Korea appeared to have used the footage in state media.
Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's powerful sister and the regime's chief spokesperson, said the image in question was “a screenshot from one of the video clips published by NBC, FOX News, Reuters, and other foreign media. ”
All foreign media based in Seoul received footage from the South Korean military.
Kim Yo Jong later cited the findings and accused South Korean media, including the state-run Yonhap News Agency, of using state media images of Pyongyang without permission.
In a statement carried by KCNA, he said North Korea would investigate.
Seoul's Ministry of Unification said in a press conference on Friday that all South Korean news companies are “legally using materials from the Korean Central News Agency by paying usage fees through Japanese intermediaries,” Deputy Spokesperson Kim In-hye said at a press conference. mentioned in.
“We will make it clear that it is North Korea that is illegally using our materials,” Kim said. “As a party to the Berne Convention, North Korea should behave responsibly,” he added, referring to the agreement aimed at protecting copyrighted works from copyright infringement between member countries.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
