In response to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's shift to a policy of viewing South Korea as a hostile state rather than a target for unification, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol condemned the North for "admitting that the North is an anti-national group" and expressed his intention to take a strong stance against North Korea's provocations.
This was stated by South Korean President Yoon Sung-yeol at the beginning of the Cabinet meeting held on the 16th.
In this context, President Yoon condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's shift to a policy of viewing South Korea as a hostile state rather than a target for unification, saying that he "self-admitted that the North's regime is an anti-national and anti-historical group."
Referring to the North Korean military's artillery strikes on the Yellow Sea on the west side of the Korean Peninsula at the beginning of the year and the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile on the 14th, he said, "If the North provokes us, we will punish them many times over, and the peace we get by succumbing to provocations will only endanger our security," and expressed his intention to take a strong stance against North Korea's provocations.
In addition, President Yoon instructed the Ministry of Unification, which is in charge of inter-Korean relations, to establish a new "North Korean Defector Day," saying, "We will spare no effort to support North Korean defectors so that they can settle in South Korean society."