North Korea eyes ‘occupation’ of neighbor

North Korea’s leader is abandoning the pursuit of reunification with South Korea and eyes occupying the neighbor in war, state media said on Tuesday.

The communist country’s parliament announced the abolition of agencies that oversaw cooperation and reunification with Seoul, the Korean Central News Agency said.

In a speech delivered at the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim called for drawing up new legal measures to define South Korea as “the most hostile state,” KCNA reported.

“In my opinion, we can specify in our constitution the issue of completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming the RoK (Republic of Korea) and annex it as a part of the territory of our Republic in case a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula,” Kim said.

“If the Republic of Korea violates even 0.001 mm of our territorial land, air and waters, it will be considered a war provocation,” he added.

The decision comes shortly after Kim labelled South Korea the “principal enemy” and stated that continuing to seek reconciliation was a “mistake.”

In their constitutions, both North and South Korea claim sovereignty over the whole of the peninsula.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Republic of Korea — the North and South’s official names — were founded 75 years ago but still technically regard each other as illegal entities.

Until now, what passed for diplomatic relations was handled by Seoul’s Unification Ministry and Pyongyang’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification — one of the agencies the Supreme People’s Assembly has now declared abolished.

“The two most hostile states, which are at war, are now in acute confrontation on the Korean peninsula,” the decision adopted by the assembly said, according to KCNA.

“The reunification of Korea can never be achieved with the Republic of Korea,” it added.