Unification with South Korea no longer possible, says Kim Jong-un
theguardian.com
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has called for a change to the constitution to identify South Korea as the “number one hostile state”, ending the regime’s commitment to unifying the Korean peninsula.
In a speech to the supreme people’s assembly – North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament – Kim said he no longer believed unification was possible and accused the South of attempting to foment regime change and promote unification by stealth.
In another sign of quickly deteriorating ties between the two Koreas, which ended their 1950-53 war with a truce but not a peace treaty – Kim said: “We don’t want war, but we have no intention of avoiding it.”
Couldn't they just accept the current two-state solution and stop grousing about it?
Was reading a book about the history of the Three Tigers of Asia (Japan, China, Korea), and the author shared popularity posts about how SK doesn't even want unification anymore. It's been too long and the whole "splitting families" concept is no longer applicable.
Unification would be an economic disaster for South Korea. This is far worse than east and west Germany, North Koreans would need absurd levels of aid. Food, infrastructure, and education have been lacking for decades, it would take generations to repair and integrate the north into modern society.
Is south Korea a democracy? East Germany has never completely recovered, and is now one of the neo-nazi hotspots in Germany. I wonder what would happen if all the north Koreans would suddenly be allowed to vote in whole Korea. Would they tear all the progress down that the south has made so far?
Yes, it's a democracy, although that's only been true for a relatively short period of time.
FTFY. The need you describe already exists, whether it is filled today, or 50 years from now.
While true. The aid they would need for integration is far more overarching than just to continue to exist.
You have to read between the lines a bit, but that's actually what Kim is doing here.
Look at it from the NK perspective. For 70 years, they've ostensibly wanted to "reunify" with the south, under the Kim regime. They've wanted to throw out foreign influence, eliminate the ROK government, and unite Korea under the DPRK flag.
In saying that reunification is impossible, Kim is effectively recognizing the south as a separate state.
I'm not really all that surprised. Unification would likely mean the existing North Korean political elite would be criminals at best or dead at worst.
Might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm all for offering them cushy gilded cages to live out the rest of their lives. If that's what it takes to end the regime, then go for it.
It's not like there's a long list of would-be dictators who are emboldened by the idea that they might land a sweet western mansion one day. There are so many other factors in taking over a country's political system that this doesn't register.
An example, but I don't think East German leadership faced any consequences bar loss of power, after reunification.
Germany was never at war with itself and only kept apart by external states.
The only thing stopping Korea unification was a complete inability for either side to agree what unification would look like. Especially in the post-soviet world where Korea's greatest allies have always been at best tolerant of them.
He is starting strong for worst cunt of the year and he already won worst haircut, so it could be his year but competition is hard.
Who is also in competition for worst haircut 2024 (beside the orange man)?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Yoon also condemned North Korea’s recent missile launch and live-fire exercises near the countries’ tense maritime border, warning that provocations would invite retaliation on a “multiplied scale”.
Kim’s speech marks a departure from decades of official policy that saw reconciliation and unification as the ultimate goal, despite frequent rises in tensions on the peninsula.
Some analysts believe that by classifying the South as its biggest adversary, the North could be attempting to justify the use of nuclear weapons in any future war.
Kim said a war would “decimate” South Korea and deal an “unimaginable” defeat to its biggest ally, the US, which has almost 30,000 troops stationed in the country, according to KCNA.
“In the event of war on the Korean peninsula, I think it is also important to reflect on the issue of completely occupying, suppressing, and reclaiming [South Korea] and incorporating it into the territory of our Republic,” Kim said.
At a meeting of the ruling Workers’ party late last year, Kim Jong-un described North and South Korea as “two states hostile to each other,” the Yonhap news agency said.
The original article contains 527 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Such a nasty lil' dumpling.
You would think that now that NK has acquired nukes reunification would be even easier. but SK has been going further and further into the other direction.