North Korean leader Kim Jong-un classified South Korea as the “most hostile state” in a speech to parliament, mitigating optimism regarding a possible resumption of inter-Korean dialogue, following conciliatory gestures from Seoul.
“Concretely, we formally recognize South Korea as the most hostile state and will treat it by completely rejecting and ignoring it through clear words and actions.”Kim said on Monday, March 23, in a speech given during the second and final day of the first session of the new Supreme People’s Assembly, the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported this Tuesday.
Kim added that Any provocation from Seoul will be met with harshnessstressing that Pyongyang will make it pay the price “without mercy” or hesitation.
The rhetoric reinforces the doctrine promoted by Kim in recent years of considering the two Koreas as “two states hostile to each other.” In 2024, the leader requested the revision of the Constitution to reflect this stance and state media then claimed that the amendment had been incorporated.
The North Korean Constitution has not been published for years, so it is not possible to confirm whether the change has been formalized.
Kim Jong-un’s statements take on special relevance because they were made before the new parliament, a merely formal body that ratifies the decisions of the regime’s leadership.
The reaffirmation of rhetoric hostile to South Korea responds to a stance of reconciliation taken by the new South Korean Government of Lee Jae-myung, who took office last June, and has been guided by several public declarations of detente, as well as initiatives such as suspending propaganda broadcasts on the border through loudspeakers or sending balloons with leaflets to North Korean territory.
During the speech, Kim also reiterated his criticism of the United States, accusing Washington of maintaining a hostile policy towards the Asian country, although he did not mention North American President Donald Trump.
Furthermore, he insisted that North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state is irreversible and constitutes the basis of the national security strategy.
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