Kim Jong-un threatened South Korea with war for any violation of its territory

Tensions continue to rise. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the night of Monday to Tuesday (French time) threatened Seoul to go to war for any violation of “even 0.001 mm” of North Korean territory, according to official media, after announcing the dissolution of the departments. was responsible for reunification with South Korea.

The North Korean leader stressed that his country does not recognize the de facto maritime border between the two countries, the Northern Boundary Line, and called for constitutional changes to allow Pyongyang to “occupy” South Korea in the event of war, the North Korean news agency reported. KCNA. In Seoul, President Yoon Seok-yeol responded that South Korea would “response a hundredfold” to any provocation from the North, highlighting the South Korean military’s “overwhelming response capabilities.”

The two countries are still at war

The verbal escalation follows deteriorating relations between the two Koreas, which have reached their lowest level in decades, particularly after Pyongyang’s launch of a spy satellite in November and Seoul’s suspension of a 2018 military agreement aimed at “reducing tensions.”

The dissolution of several agencies working towards reunification with South Korea has been approved by the North Korean parliament. The two countries “are in acute confrontation on the Korean Peninsula” and “the reunification of Korea can never be completed with the Republic of Korea,” North Korea’s parliament stressed, KCNA reported. The neighboring countries are technically still at war since 1953, with the fighting stopped by a truce rather than a peace treaty.

In his speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North Korean leader called for new measures to identify South Korea as the “most hostile country,” KCNA reported. “In my opinion, we can specify in our Constitution the issue of the complete occupation, subjugation and reconquest of the Republic of Korea and its annexation as part of the territory of our Republic in the event of war on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim Jong Ne said.

“If the Republic of Korea violates even 0.001 mm of our territory, air or sea space, this will be considered a provocation to war,” he emphasized.

Claims to the entire Korean Peninsula

In early January, Kim Jong Un reiterated that South Korea is the North’s “main enemy” and that reunification efforts are a mistake “that should not be repeated.” In their constitutions, South and North Korea claim sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula. Founded 75 years ago, they consider each other an illegal organization.

The scant contacts between the two countries acting as diplomatic relations before the dissolution of North Korean agencies run by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification and the North Korean Peaceful Reunification Committee were organizations closed by Pyongyang.

North Korea’s new measures against Seoul are “reckless” and contrary to the approach seen for years, analysts say. “For decades, North Korea has been telling its people that the end of the revolution is reunification and that Kim Il Sung’s wish is reunification,” said Cho Han-beom, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, referring to the country’s founder. “Now (Kim Jong Un) denies everything his predecessors did,” he said.

Last year, North Korea enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution. It has fired several intercontinental ballistic missiles in violation of UN resolutions, and this Sunday saw the last launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (MRBM).

Russia and North Korea, longtime allies, showed rapprochement after the North Korean leader traveled to the Russian Far East in September 2023 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A North Korean delegation led by Foreign Minister Choi Song-hee arrived in Moscow on Monday for an official visit, KCNA reported, raising concerns about possible North Korean weapons being supplied to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.