SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said South Korea is a foreign and hostile nation, state news agency KCNA reported Friday, adding that Kim Jong-un met with senior soldiers and received orders. He posted a photo of himself staring at a map with the words “Seoul” written on it. post.
According to the report, Kim discussed using an “attack force” against South Korea in retaliation for any move to violate North Korea’s sovereignty. No details were given on what force would be used.
The report came a day after KCNA announced that North Korea had amended its constitution to designate South Korea as a “hostile country.” Mr. Kim has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year, accusing the South Korean government of colluding with Washington to bring down the regime, and renewing his decades-long policy engagement with South Korea, including scrapping unification as a goal. We are pushing for a clear break between the two.
The closed state this week blew up road and rail links with South Korea. KCNA quoted Kim as saying that these actions emphasized “not only physical closure, but also an end to bad relations with Seoul.”
The South Korean government has said that if North Korea threatens the safety of its people, “on that day, the North Korean regime will end.”
Kim made the remarks Thursday while touring the headquarters of the North Korean Army’s Second Corps, a major military unit that includes several forward-deployed brigades with heavy weapons destined for South Korea, KCNA said.
During the visit, he also said that the changed nature of the South Korea-US alliance and more developed and different military exercises highlight the importance of strengthening North Korea’s nuclear deterrent.
“Kim is trying to strengthen the spirits of the soldiers on the front lines with his statements,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“This ‘two enemy countries’ rhetoric is ultimately Kim Jong Un’s survival strategy…don’t interfere, live separately as adversaries. This is a path (North Korea) has never taken before. No one can be sure of its success.”
Tensions between the two Koreas have been rising since North Korea began sending balloons carrying garbage across the border into South Korea in late May, and the South Korean government has responded by resuming loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts. It’s angering North Korea.
North Korea has stepped up its hostile rhetoric in recent days, accusing South Korea’s military of flying a drone over the capital on the 3rd of this month, and warning that if new drones are detected in the sky, it will cause a “terrible disaster.” I’m threatening to wake up.
The South Korean government has declined to say whether such drones have flown, or if they have, whether they were flown by military or civilians. He said that to comment on North Korea’s claims would be to be drawn into a ruse.
On Friday, the top military commanders of South Korea and the United States held their annual military committees meeting and expressed concern about the security challenges posed by the threat from North Korea.
“The two leaders emphasized that North Korea’s provocations and North Korea’s increased military cooperation with Russia are destabilizing peace and security on the peninsula and around the world,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. They said in a statement using their official name, People’s Union for Democracy. Republic of Korea.
South Korea will begin its annual large-scale military exercise, Hoguk, on Sunday to improve its operational capabilities.
