Europe 1 with AFP 10:44 a.m., January 16, 2024

The North Korean leader stressed that his country would not recognize the de facto maritime border between the two countries, the Northern Limit Line, and called for constitutional changes that would allow Pyongyang to "occupy" South Korea in the event of war, the North's state-run KCNA news agency reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened Seoul with war over any violation of "even 0.001 mm" of North Korean territory, according to state media, after announcing the dissolution of agencies in charge of reunification with South Korea. He stressed that his country would not recognize the de facto maritime border between the two countries, the Northern Limit Line, and called for constitutional changes allowing Pyongyang to "occupy" South Korea in the event of war, the North's state-run KCNA news agency reported.

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South Korea will 'retaliate a hundredfold' to any provocation by the North

In Seoul, President Yoon Suk Yeol responded that South Korea will "retaliate a hundredfold" to any provocation by the North, stressing the South Korean military's "overwhelming response capabilities." The escalation follows a deterioration in relations between the two Koreas, which are at their lowest point in decades, including Pyongyang's launch of a spy satellite in November, and Seoul's suspension of a 2018 military agreement aimed at easing tensions.

The dissolution of several agencies working for reunification with South Korea has been approved by the North Korean parliament. The two countries "are in sharp confrontation on the Korean Peninsula" and "Korea's reunification can never be concluded with the Republic of Korea," the North Korean parliament said, according to KCNA. Neighboring countries have been technically at war since 1953, with fighting stopped by an armistice, not a peace treaty.

"The question of complete occupation"

In a speech to the Supreme People's Assembly, the North Korean leader called for further steps to define South Korea as "the most hostile country," KCNA reported. "In my opinion, we can specify in our Constitution the issue of the complete occupation, subjugation and reconquest of the Republic of Korea and its annexation as part of the territory of our Republic in the event of war on the Korean Peninsula," Kim Jong Un said.

"If the ROK violates even 0.001 mm of our territory, airspace or sea, it will be considered a provocation to war," he said. Kim Jong Un said in early January that South Korea is the North's "main enemy" and that reunification efforts are a mistake "not to be made again." In their respective constitutions, South and North Korea claim sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula. Founded 75 years ago, they each consider the other to be an illegal entity.

'Reckless' measures

The meagre contacts between the two countries serving as diplomatic relations were, until the dissolution of North Korean agencies, managed by the South Korean Unification Ministry and the North Korean Committee for Peaceful Reunification, one of the bodies closed by Pyongyang. North Korea's new measures against Seoul are "reckless" and break with the approach it has seen for years, analysts said.

"For decades, North Korea has told its people that the completion of the revolution is reunification and Kim Il Sung's wish is reunification," said Cho Han-bum, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, referring to the country's founder. "Now (Kim Jong Un) denies everything his predecessors did," he told AFP.

Russia, North Korea's ally

Last year, North Korea enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution. It has fired several intercontinental ballistic missiles, in violation of UN resolutions, with a final launch on Sunday of an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile (IRBM). Russia and North Korea, longtime allies, have been showing a rapprochement since the North Korean leader's trip to the Russian Far East in September 2023 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Monday, a North Korean delegation led by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived in Moscow for an official visit, KCNA reported, stoking concerns about possible North Korean arms transfers to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.