North Korea – South Korea: “I assess the situation as being on the edge of the precipice”, worries a specialist

Kim Jong-un openly marks a break with hopes of reunification between the two Koreas. There seems to be no sign of de-escalation.

The escalation has continued since the start of the year between the two Koreas. Kim Jong-un said South Korea should be defined in the constitution as “enemy number one” from his country. In response, South Korea raised its voice in turn.

The closure of organizations responsible for inter-Korean relations

Kim Jong-un marks a break with “80 years of inter-Korean relations”. Despite the tensions since the end of the war, two camps continued to keep peaceful reunification as their horizon, with institutions planned for exchanges in times of appeasement. Now he says South Korea should be recognized as another state, “the most hostile”.

He also called for the complete occupation of South Korean territory in the event of an invasion. Words accompanied by the strong decision to close organizations responsible for inter-Korean relations. Three agencies responsible for inter-Korean tourism or unification have thus closed in the north. Already, in recent days, North Korean websites and radio channels aimed at the South Korean public have been cut off.

In the south, the president showed his muscles. Yoon Suk-yeol asserted the superiority of his army and promised a hundredfold response to any North Korean provocation.

A serious climb?

This is what some observers and specialists on site seem to think. Since the start of the year, there have been artillery barrages on both sides of a disputed maritime border, the testing of a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile from North Korea and, above all, numerous declarations martial arts.

Neither Seoul nor Pyongyang is beginning to de-escalate, which worries Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies: “Military training on both sides has now gone beyond purely defensive exercises and has turned into a kind of wild animal. The situation on the Korean Peninsula has been very serious and urgent since the beginning of the year. In other words , I assess it as being on the edge of the precipice.” For some, like Daniel Pinkston, professor at Troy University in Seoul, this warlike rhetoric will not have any effect.