Kim dashes dream of Korean unity
Kim Jong-un has dramatically redefined North Korea’s relationship with South Korea, characterising its people as enemies, not compatriots, and has refused to recognise the maritime boundary between the nations.
The new policy overturns 50 years of established North Korean doctrine and practice and opens the way for military conflict, particularly along the maritime Northern Limit Line, where deadly confrontations have taken place before.
It also calls for the closure of North Korean organisations that are dedicated to uniting the nations, and the destruction of a monument to reunification.
“The reality is that the North-South relationship is no longer a relationship of kinship or homogeneity but a relationship of two hostile countries, a complete relationship of two belligerents in the midst of war,” Kim said in a speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s tame parliament.
“If the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) violates even 0.001mm of our territorial land, air and waters, it will be considered a war provocation.”
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, a conservative elected in 2022 on a platform of reduced tolerance of the North, responded by warning that his country would use “overwhelming response capabilities” to retaliate against any threat.
Since the countries were divided between the communist North and democratic South after World War II, each has continued to claim that it is the sole legitimate authority over the whole Korean peninsula. The North used to refer to South Koreans as “compatriots” who had been tragically enslaved by a “puppet” pro-American regime.
Until now, Seoul and Pyongyang had maintained local government departments, staffed by civil servants, for the regions of the country under the control of the other. Elaborate proposals were laid for reunification, with co-operation leading to a loose federation and an eventual merging of the countries – although they never came close to fruition.
The new North Korean policy abandons all that in favour of treating the South as a separate country.
“In my opinion, we can specify in our constitution the issue of completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming the ROK and annex it as a part of the territory of our republic in case a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula,” Kim said.
“We should ... and take other measures so as to completely eliminate concepts such as ‘reunification’,” Kim said.
“Education and culture projects will be strengthened so that the ROK is firmly regarded as the No 1 hostile country.”
The policy will make it easier to justify attacks on the South. Kim told the assembly: “We do not want war, but we also have no intention of avoiding it.”