Speaking before the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s parliament, Kim said he no longer believed unification was possible and accused the South of trying to foment regime change and promote unification by stealth.
The North Korean leader said:
“We do not want war, but we also have no intention of avoiding it. If the enemies ignite a war, our republic will resolutely punish the enemies by mobilizing all its military forces, including nuclear weapons.”
Kim’s comments drew immediate condemnation from the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who accused Pyongyang of being “anti-national” in labelling the South as a hostile country.
Yoon also condemned North Korea’s recent missile launch and live-fire exercises near the countries’ tense maritime border, warning that provocations would invite retaliation on a “multiplied scale”.
At the end of World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided into the North and the South. From 1950 to 1953, the Korean War was fought between the two Koreas, which ended in an armistice, leaving the two countries formally at war. Although since then they have often accused each other of preparing an invasion, both sides have periodically called for peaceful reunification.
International cooperation between the North and South has been interrupted in recent weeks after North Korea fired a series of artillery salvos at buffer zones between the countries for live-fire drills.
