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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: "We don't want war, but we have no intention of avoiding it"

Photo: Kcna / REUTERS

North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un wants to declare South Korea "enemy number one" in the constitution. He had come to the conclusion that reunification with the South was no longer possible. In the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula, the country's constitution should reflect the question of "occupying," "reconquering," and "incorporating" the South into its territory. We don't want war, but we have no intention of avoiding it," Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA in his speech to the Supreme People's Assembly.

Warning to the U.S.

A war would decimate the South and inflict an "unimaginable" defeat on the United States. He accused the government in Seoul of seeking the collapse of the regime and reunification through absorption. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol criticized Kim's move. This shows the "anti-national and ahistorical" character of the government in Pyongyang. He announced that he would respond to provocations such as the recent missile launch with a response "on a multiplied scale."

Three organizations that deal with the previous goal of reunification of the two countries and inter-Korean tourism are to be closed, according to state media. According to analysts, the North Korean Foreign Ministry could take over relations with South Korea and possibly justify the use of nuclear weapons against the South in a future war.

Observers are concerned

"It may sound exaggeratedly dramatic, but we believe that Kim Jong Un, like his grandfather in 1950, made the strategic decision to go to war," write former State Department official Robert Carlin and nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker in a report for the U.S. Project 1950 North. "We don't know when or how Kim will pull the trigger, but the danger already goes far beyond the routine warnings from Washington, Seoul and Tokyo about Pyongyang's 'provocations.'" Other observers are more optimistic: the changes simply reflect reality and could help the two Koreas normalize their relations.

hen/Reuters