North Korean leader Kim Jong Un once again stepped up the rhetoric against South Korea stating that he would use all means to deal a “death blow” to the enemy if it sought military confrontation with Pyongyang, North Korean state media KCNA had reported on Thursday. The report also stated that he made these remarks during his visit to the Kim Jong-Il University of Military and Politics.
Kim Jong-Il is Kim’s late father and the university is military training school for commanding officers according to a Yonhap news report.
The KCNA report also quoted Kim as saying that “now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before and that the DPRK should be more firmly and perfectly prepared for a war, which should be won without fail, not just for a possible war.”
Kim has steadily dialing up the rhetoric against South Korea in the run up to the latter’s elections. His latest remarks come as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his People Power Party (PPP). Though President Yoon who was elected in 2022 remain president he has lost the parliamentary majority to govern as the opposition Democratic Party (DPK) and smaller parties have cobbled together a coalition to win 192 out 300 seats in the National Assembly. Though North Korea policy is not likely to change, President Yoon may have to tone down his aggressive policy of courting Japan and the US as the opposition will now hold the purse strings. In effect, analysts say that he will become a lame duck president.
Kim’s rhetoric began earlier this year when he stated in January that North Korea would no longer pursue the path of “peaceful reunification” with the South casting aside a decades-long policy. He has also called the South, North Korea’s “principal enemy” and fired three ballistic missiles this year which landed in the Sea of Japan. Officials say these missiles are a warning to both Japan and the US as American soldiers are stationed in both Japan and Guam.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had sought for a summit meeting with Kim last month only to be rebuffed. Currently on an official visit to the US where he has met with President Biden, the Japanese PM stated at a joint press conference with the US leader that the “window” for discussion with North Korea was still open.
“The establishment of a meaningful relationship between Japan and North Korea is in the interests of both Japan and North Korea and it could be hugely beneficial to the peace and stability of the region,” he said.
President Biden said he welcomed bids for dialogue and added that the US was open to talking to North Korea “without preconditions.”
