"A foreign country"

Kim threatens “main enemy” South Korea with violence

North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un is sabotaging reconciliation with South Korea.

(Bild: AFP/KCNA VIA KNS)

North Korea's ruler Kim Jong-un has described South Korea as "a foreign and obviously hostile country". He also warned of the use of physical force if North Korea's sovereignty is violated, as reported by the state news agency KCNA.

Kim made the statements during an inspection visit to the North Korean People's Army. It was only on Thursday that North Korea's state media reported for the first time that the country's revised constitution "clearly defines South Korea as an enemy state".

A day earlier, Kim Jong-un had all road and rail links between North and South Korea blown up. These were seen as a symbol of a possible reconciliation between the two hostile states.

South Korea as the main enemy in the constitution
At the end of 2023, North Korea's ruler Kim Jong-un demanded for the first time at a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party that South Korea should be designated as the main enemy in the country's socialist constitution. He also described inter-Korean relations as being between two warring states.

Formally speaking, the two countries are still in a state of war, as the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.