Seoul, South Korea CNN –
North Korea will no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, Kim Jong Un said as his country pledged to launch three new military spy satellites into orbit in 2024.
Kim said inter-Korean relations had become “a relationship between two enemy countries and two belligerents at war,” state news agency KCNA reported.
“It is time for us to acknowledge the reality and clarify our relationship with the South,” Kim said, adding that if Washington and Seoul attempted a military confrontation with Pyongyang, “the nuclear war deterrent will not hesitate to take serious action.” seize”.
“I believe that confronting the people who declare us the 'main enemy' and only look for opportunities is a mistake we must no longer make.”[our] “Regime collapse” and “unification through absorption” through working together for reconciliation and unification,” Kim added.
North and South Korea have been cut off from each other since the end of the Korean War in 1953, which ended with an armistice. The two sides are still technically at war, but both governments have long sought the goal of reunification.
Relations have weakened over the decades, but tensions have remained particularly high in recent years after Kim Jong Un expanded the country's nuclear weapons program despite international sanctions.
Last week, KCNA reported that Kim had ordered the country's army, munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defense sectors to speed up war preparations in response to “confrontational moves” by the US.
KCNA at the time described the political and military situation on the Korean peninsula as “serious” and said it had reached an “extreme” point because of Washington.
According to Hoo Chiew-Ping, senior fellow at the East Asian International Relations CAUCUS (EAIR) and member of the Asia Pacific Nuclear Advisory Panel (APNAP), Kim's recent comments on reunification were significant as he said goodbye to “inter-Korean relations” in recent years .
“This will mark a crucial milestone on the Korean Peninsula, where the extension of the olive branch by future South Korean governments will be vehemently opposed by North Korea,” Hoo told CNN.
Pyongyang is more interested in expanding ties with current allies such as “China and Russia, as well as a select network of countries around the world that will continue to enable its proliferation and financial reach,” she added.
“The United States, South Korea and Japan are excluded from Kim’s strategic engagement for the time being.”
KCNA/Portal
On July 13, 2023, a ballistic missile is fired from an unknown location in North Korea.
Ja Ian Chong, associate professor of political science and foreign scholar at Carnegie China, said Kim's speech “reflects the reality that unification is not possible (for Korea) in either the short or medium term.”
“Given this situation, the question arises as to whether non-unification means a continuation of the status quo or whether North Korea believes it needs to act to protect itself more actively or even forestall possible aggression by South Korea,” Chong added.
“The former is tolerable even as North Korea seeks to increase its defense capabilities, as it maintains the status quo and is better than belief in armed unification.” If the latter is true, tensions and even tensions with South Korea and Northeast Asia are likely to increase “, he warned.
After repeated failures, North Korea announced in November that it had put its first spy satellite into orbit.
Analysts said if the spacecraft works, it could significantly improve North Korea's military capabilities and, among other things, allow it to more accurately target its opponent's forces.
Kim hailed the achievement and celebrated with workers at the launch site, according to images shared by state media. South Korea called the launch a “clear violation” of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.
On Sunday, KCNA said North Korea plans to bolster that program with three additional spy satellites in the new year.
“Based on the experience of successfully launching and operating the first reconnaissance satellite in 2023, the task of launching three more reconnaissance satellites in 2024 was declared in order to vigorously promote the development of space science and technology,” the statement said.
Throughout 2023, Pyongyang also launched a series of ICBM tests, including a long-range, liquid-fueled missile called the Hwasong-17 ICBM on Dec. 17, which defense experts and regional observers said showed a “maturing” North Korean missile program.
“Although North Korea, as in every country, has failed missile tests, it is clear that the overall reliability of North Korean missiles is quite respectable,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. previously told CNN.
North Korea's tests and strong rhetoric could play into Washington's hands, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“The threat from North Korea motivates greater trilateral cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea, including real-time sharing of missile tracking data. Officials in Seoul knew this ICBM test was coming and had coordinated in advance with partners in Washington and Tokyo,” he said.