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North Korea has declared the South an “enemy state”

Author:
Liza Brovko
Date:

North Korea declared South Korea an "enemy state" enshrined in the Constitution. Such an amendment was introduced by the national assembly of the DPRK, as the countryʼs leader Kim Jong Un wanted.

North Koreaʼs KCNA news agency reported that the military blew up sections of road and rail links with South Korea, "an enemy state as defined by the constitution."

Sections of these roads are now completely blocked as part of the "staged complete separation of its [North Korean] territory" from the South.

Last week, North Korean officials gathered for two days of meetings to amend the Constitution and officially designate South Korea as a separate country and the main enemy.

Back in January 2024, Kim Jong Un declared the need for changes to the DPRK Constitution to define South Korea as a "main enemy country." And he argued that Pyongyang will no longer seek reconciliation with the South.

What is happening between North Korea and South Korea?

Since 1910, the entire Korean peninsula had been part of the Japanese Empire, but in 1945, the US dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when Japan surrendered and the World War II ended. The Korean peninsula was divided into two parts: American troops occupied the southern part, and Soviet troops occupied the northern part. In 1945, the southern part announced the establishment of the Republic of Korea. In 1948, the communist Democratic Peopleʼs Republic of Korea appeared in the northern part.

The leader of the newly created North Korea was Kim Il-sung, who, hoping to unite the Koreas, built an army and started the Korean War (in 1950). Already in July 1953, the USA and the DPRK signed an armistice, but since then the formal end of the war has not yet been announced. North Korea wants the US to withdraw troops from South Korea and lift sanctions, while the US wants North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

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