Go to contents

Kim Jong Un’s unification tactic ahead of S. Korea’s presidential election

Kim Jong Un’s unification tactic ahead of S. Korea’s presidential election

Posted January. 03, 2017 07:11,   

Updated January. 03, 2017 07:21

한국어

In his New Year’s message on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang is in the final stages of the preparation to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). He went on to say that as long as the U.S. continues nuclear threat and the South Korea-U.S. joint war drills continuously take place, the North will continue to increase the military capabilities for preemptive strikes. Pyongyang had claimed missiles as "satellites" by citing its sovereign right to science and technology development in consideration of the international community, but it is now openly threatening the launch of an ICBM, which may have been and will be equipped with a nuclear warhead, as if showing off its ambition. Experts say that Pyongyang will seek to launch the missile as early as January 8, Kim Jong Un’s birthday, or January 20, the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

The U.S. Department of Defense immediately issued a stern warning against North Korea, saying that Washington will clearly show what cost Pyongyang will pay for an illicit act. However, Kim Jong Un refrained from blasting Washington, and only went so far as to urge Washington to take a decisive action to halt its plot to divide the Korean people and to withdraw a policy of hostility toward North Korea. Pyongyang thus completely avoided mentioning the incoming Trump administration. The North has not shown any reaction to Donald Trump’s election for nearly two months. Thus, Pyongyang is only keeping a watch on the direction of President-elect Trump’s North Korea policy, which can move in any direction going forward.

However, Kim Jong Un expressed his intention to interfere with the upcoming presidential election in South Korea by citing candlelight vigils in Seoul. “Struggles by the entire population in South Korea is explosion of resentment and anger that has continuously built up against the conservative authority,” Kim said in his speech. “I will join hands with anyone who wishes to improve inter-Korean relations.” Kim is already considering the birth of a left-leaning government that is more compatible with his regime in the South as a done deal, and is seeking to instigate internal conflict within the South as part of its so-called unification front tactic.

In the closing part of his New Year’s message, Kim said, “I spent the past year amid a sense of regret and self-atonement for my limited ability.” It is quite unusual for him to use expressions that are construed as admitting to his lack of capacity as the "supreme dignity" who reportedly never makes any mistake. “The solution to North Korean nuclear weapons is to topple the Kim Jong Un regime and achieve national reunification,” said Thae Yong-ho, North Korea's deputy ambassador to London who defected to the South. “If we dismantle the pillar of deification of Kim Jong Un as the supreme leader in the heart of North Koreans, it is possible to generate internal uprising in the North.” Kim Jong Un cannot afford to interfere with politics in South Korea, as he should be more wary of possible internal uprising on top of increasingly toughening external affairs.



klimt@donga.com