{"id":1494611,"date":"2024-02-12T00:31:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T00:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=148014"},"modified":"2024-02-12T00:31:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T00:31:02","slug":"north-korea-must-be-ready-to-occupy-south-kim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/12\/north-korea-must-be-ready-to-occupy-south-kim\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea Must Be Ready to \u201cOccupy\u201d South \u2013 Kim"},"content":{"rendered":"
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech at the Ministry of National Defense in Pyongyang on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army. <\/span>\u00a9\u00a0<\/span> STR \/ KCNA VIA KNS \/ AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Pyongyang must be prepared to seize South Korean territory in the event of an \u201cemergency,\u201d<\/em> North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said.<\/p>\n

In a speech marking the 76th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean Army on Friday, Kim praised the military for \u201cfirmly protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the country\u201d from \u201cimperialist military threats, blackmail, and the risk of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the increasingly tense relations with Seoul, the North Korean leader said his country has \u201csummarized the history of our people\u2019s division and confrontation and defined [South] Korean puppets as the most harmful and unchangeable enemy\u201d of Pyongyang.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, Kim stated that in the event of an \u201cemergency,\u201d North Korean policymakers had \u201cmade a national decision to occupy and pacify [South Korean] territory.\u201d<\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n

The warning comes after the North Korean leader ruled out reunification between Pyongyang and Seoul in late December, arguing that the two neighbors adhere to diametrically opposed principles. Last month, Kim also called on the national parliament to label South Korea the \u201cnumber one hostile country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pyongyang and Seoul never signed a peace treaty after the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which divided the peninsula, and tensions remain high. In recent months, North Korea has conducted numerous missile launches while criticizing its southern neighbor for holding joint military drills with the US, which has some 30,000 troops stationed on the peninsula.<\/p>\n

Citing US officials, the New York Times<\/em> reported in January that Washington is worried that North Korea could \u201ctake some form of lethal military action\u201d against Seoul. The paper\u2019s sources, however, doubted that Pyongyang would risk anything resembling a full-scale attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>The post North Korea Must Be Ready to \u201cOccupy\u201d South \u2013 Kim<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech at the Ministry of National Defense in Pyongyang on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of the Korean People\u2019s Army. \u00a9\u00a0 STR \/ KCNA VIA KNS \/ AFP Pyongyang must be prepared to seize South Korean territory in the event of an \u201cemergency,\u201d North Korean leader [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post North Korea Must Be Ready to \u201cOccupy\u201d South \u2013 Kim<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5003,1182,165,2037],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494890,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494611\/revisions\/1494890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}