Kim Jong-un Threatens War Again Declaring South Korea as Permanent Enemy

On the 15th, North Korea held the 10th session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly at Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang and decided to abolish the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the National Economic Cooperation Agency, and the Kumgangsan International Tourism Agency, which have been in charge of South-North dialogue and South-North exchange work. The Korean Central News Agency reported this on the 16th. Korean Central News Agency·Yonhap News

North Korea’s security threat is becoming increasingly serious. Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, stated, “If a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, the issue of completely occupying, pacifying, and restoring South Korea and incorporating it into the territory of the Republic should be reflected in the constitution.” The Korean Central News Agency reported this on the 16th. Chairman Kim ordered the revised constitution to designate South Korea as the number one enemy and an immutable main enemy.

President Yoon issued a strong warning against Chairman Kim’s remarks at a cabinet meeting held on the same day. In particular, he emphasized, “If North Korea provokes, we will retaliate several times over,” and “The threat of ‘war or peace’ no longer works.”

North Korea also abolished the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the National Economic Cooperation Agency, and the Kumgangsan International Tourism Agency, which are agencies for the South. By accelerating the reorganization of agencies for the South since the beginning of the new year, it has revealed its intention to break off dialogue with the South and aim for a military confrontation. This is interpreted as an intention to raise the level of military tension on the Korean Peninsula and influence this year’s general elections in South Korea and the U.S. presidential election. At present, it has been reported that not only the direct telephone line between the South and the North but also the hotline connecting the National Intelligence Service and the Unification Front Department are not operating.

If you combine the reports from North Korean state-run media, North Korea held the 10th session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, equivalent to the South’s National Assembly, at Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang on the 15th and made this decision. This move appears to be a follow-up measure to the 9th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, which concluded 2023 last December 26-30. At that time, Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea instructed, “While recognizing and accepting reality, we need to establish measures to reorganize and reform the agencies of the South’s business sectors, including the Unification Front Department of the Party Central Committee, and fundamentally change our struggle principles and direction.”

North Korea began reorganizing agencies for the South under the leadership of Foreign Minister Choi Sun-hee on the first day of this year. Since then, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the National Economic Cooperation Agency, the Kumgangsan International Tourism Agency, the North’s Committee for the Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration, the North’s Headquarters of the National Alliance for the Reunification of the Fatherland, the National Reconciliation Council, and the Dangun National Unification Council have been abolished. The lifelines of domestic and foreign propaganda media, including Pyongyang Broadcasting, have also been cut off.

The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland was established on May 13, 1961, with 33 political and social organization officials from North Korea. Kim Il-sung, the former chairman, was included in the initiators at the time. The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland has participated in South-North high-level government talks as a representative agency for the South, leading South-North dialogue and other tasks for the South, but its authority and functions have been significantly reduced since 2021. It is expected that economic cooperation projects and civilian exchanges between the South and the North will be completely blocked as the National Economic Cooperation Agency and the Kumgangsan International Tourism Agency are also abolished.

The Kumgangsan tourism project was a project promoted by Chairman Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, Chairman of the National Defense Commission. The fact that North Korea has decided to eliminate even such a legacy of unification from its predecessors is interpreted as a trap to completely block the window of exchange with the South and block our side’s window for acquiring information about North Korea. It is also seen as part of the ‘bypassing the South and directly negotiating with the U.S.’ strategy if former President Donald Trump is elected in this year’s U.S. presidential election.

A unification ministry official said, “It seems that North Korea has such claims and behaviors because of anxiety about the regime, lack of confidence in the South, and fear of absorbing unification with a free democratic system.” Experts pointed out that our authorities need to detect North Korea’s intention to dilute internal dissatisfaction by raising security tensions and responding consistently. Lee Kyu-chang, director of the human rights research office at the Unification Research Institute, in particular, suggested, “We need to continue to promote North Korea’s human rights policy consistently.” This is because the vulnerability of the North Korean regime lies in human rights issues.