The image published by the North Korean Central News Agency on December 31, 2023 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attending a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party, five days long, in Pyongyang the day before. (Use only within South Korea. Distribution prohibited in part or in full)
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) — North Korea made its hostility toward South Korea more explicit during a key year-end meeting, trying to use it as an excuse to boost its military capabilities and intensify internal solidarity, like this one Tuesday was reported by the South Korean Unification Ministry.
The chairman of the North Korean State Affairs Committee, Kim Jong-un, defined inter-Korean relations as relations “between two mutually hostile states” and promised to “overwhelmingly” prevent confrontational actions led by the US at the conclusion of the five-day plenary session took place on Saturday last week the ruling Workers' Party of North Korea.
Kim also ordered a “major event to suppress the entire territory” of South Korea, mobilizing all physical means and nuclear weapons, and said he would no longer consider the South as a partner for reconciliation and unification.
In assessing the outcome of the party meeting, the South Korean ministry said that Pyongyang appeared to have shown “nervousness” in pursuing its 2024 political goals, as it highlighted tensions with Seoul and Washington to further increase Pyongyang's loyalty population to the regime.
A ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity that Pyongyang had emphasized its hostility toward the South by using a stricter term than in 2022 to bolster its military capabilities and deepen internal solidarity.
At the party's annual meeting in 2022, Kim called South Korea an “undoubted enemy” and called for an “exponential” increase in the country's nuclear arsenal.
At the 2023 meeting, the North said it wanted to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024, strengthen its nuclear arsenal and produce unmanned combat equipment such as attack drones.
South Korean intelligence recently said Pyongyang was expected to carry out provocative actions early this year ahead of South Korea's parliamentary elections in April and presidential elections in November.
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