16-1-2024 (SEOUL) In a bold and provocative move, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged a constitutional amendment to redefine the status of South Korea as a separate state. During a speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, on Monday (Jan 15), Kim asserted that the unification with the South was no longer feasible. He also issued a warning, stating that while North Korea does not actively seek war, it does not intend to avoid it, as reported by state media KCNA on Tuesday.
Accusing Seoul of seeking regime collapse and unification by absorption, Kim declared, “We don’t want war, but we have no intention of avoiding it.”
As a manifestation of this stance, three organizations dealing with unification and inter-Korean tourism are set to shut down, according to state media.
This development comes against a backdrop of escalating tensions in the Korean Peninsula, marked by a series of missile tests and North Korea’s departure from decades-old policies in its approach to the South. Analysts have suggested that North Korea’s foreign ministry could assume control of relations with Seoul, potentially justifying the use of nuclear weapons against the South in any future conflict.
Kim’s call for South Korea to be designated as the “number one enemy” in the constitution reflects an intensification of hostilities. He further asserted that in the event of a war, the South would suffer decimation, dealing an “unimaginable” defeat to the United States, according to KCNA.
Kim proposed that if a war were to break out on the Korean peninsula, the country’s constitution should incorporate provisions regarding the “occupying,” “recapturing,” and “incorporating” of the South into North Korean territory.
In a recent report for the US-based 38 North project, former State Department official Robert Carlin and nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker expressed heightened concerns about the situation on the Korean Peninsula, comparing it to the dangerous period in early June 1950. They speculated that Kim Jong Un might have strategically decided to go to war, although the timing and manner remain uncertain.
