Pyongyang considers Seoul to be its “most harmful and unchangeable enemy,” the leader has said
Pyongyang must be prepared to seize South Korean territory in the event of an “emergency,” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said.
In a speech marking the 76th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean Army on Friday, Kim praised the military for “firmly protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the country” from “imperialist military threats, blackmail, and the risk of war.”
[Kim] said his country has “summarized the history of our people’s division and confrontation and defined [South] Korean puppets as the most harmful and unchangeable enemy” of Pyongyang.
Against this backdrop, Kim stated that in the event of an “emergency,” North Korean policymakers had “made a national decision to occupy and pacify [South Korean] territory.”
Last month, Kim also called on the national parliament to label South Korea the “number one hostile country.”
[…]
Citing US officials, the New York Times reported in January that Washington is worried that North Korea could “take some form of lethal military action” against Seoul. The paper’s sources, however, doubted that Pyongyang would risk anything resembling a full-scale attack.
(non-archived link: https://www.rt.com/news/592193-north-korea-ready-occupy-south/ )
“must be ready to” is what you say when you really really REALLY don’t want to do something, but you know that you’re going to have to.
It has began, one by one, all the puppets are going down! 🇰🇵
uncritical support for the DPRK in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire
WAITER, GET ME ANOTHER FRONT
Unquestionable support for DPRK and its heroic struggle, but I wonder how Best Korea will handle taking over a country where Mccarthyism never ended.
Take the Russian war for example: the regions the Russians are going to annex will be easy for the locals to adjust to, since east Ukrainians are generally more russian-leaning than their westaboo nazis worshippers in Western Ukraine.
South Koreans are force-fed scaremongering propaganda about communism and their northern brothers from birth.
DPRK can absolutely take over SK, but the real challenge for them will be in actually holding the territory of a people who’s trained from birth to fear and hate the DPRK.
well, they managed in germany, so the koreans are more than capable of doing it too. specially when the conditions in sk are so bad, no anti-communism can withstand full employment and free housing.
From what I read, around 80 percent of South Koreans support Kim Jong-Un, but in a liberation war, I could see those numbers turn.
From what I read, around 80 percent of South Koreans support Kim Jong-Un
Where did you read that? It sounds absurd.
The poll said that 80% of South Koreans “Trusted” Kim Jong Un. The context: at the time Moon Jae-in (SK’s president) and KJU were in talks and there was serious consideration being given to signing a proper peace treaty, so the people were pretty optimistic. Just a month before these discussions, another poll had SK’s approval of KJU at 10%, so I think it’s safe to say that it was in response to this specific event and not something that has held steady in the meantime.
IIRC this moment of peace broke down because a key point in negotiations was the US leaving South Korea, so when Moon brought the deal back to his actual masters it was dead on arrival. This has pretty much been the pattern with every SK president who wants to formally end the war.
Ah that makes way more sense, thanks.
Best Korea
Just call it Korea. The rest of the peninsula is Occupied Korea.
South Korea was a brutal right wing dictatorship until somewhat recently, so maybe their views are a bit different. They also have some pretty awful labor laws to this day, even by capitalist standards. I don’t know what they actually think about the DPRK though, but their experience with capitalism is not at all like the US or Ukraine.
Having talked to a few South Koreans who live or frequent the US, the general consensus I’ve gotten is that they think the conflict is caused by external countries trying to manipulate them (US, Japan, and China), and that if they were left to their own devices, they’d reunify in time. Of course, they also think North Koreans worship the Kims as gods.
This is a really small number of people I’ve talked to, I’ve talked to them in the US where I assume they spend most of their time, but it seems to align with the takes I’ve seen in South Korean media that’s critical about South Korea: disenchantment and even contempt for the ROK government and US occupation, but also a view that the DPRK is cultish and China is just another US. This is purely anecdotal, so take it with a heap of salt.
Has anyone been to North Korea? What’s the situation there?
Improving. Things were pretty bad after the fall of the USSR. They’re still the most sanctioned country on earth.
Here’s an interesting video from a guy who went there to get a haircut: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=2BO83Ig-E8E
If you’d like some more video sources, here’s a shortlist: https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:DPRK_Study_Guide#Documentaries
Here’s answers to many common questions: https://dessalines.github.io/essays/socialism_faq.html#on-north-korea--the-dprk
And here is an overview article though it may not be what you’re looking for: https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/DPRK
Pyongyang must be prepared to seize South Korean territory in the event of an “emergency,” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said.
This doesn’t read to me like the DPRK has any plans to take any military action in the near term, Kim is simply reiterating that the DPRK must remain prepared to do so should a big opportunity arise or the US crosses a red line.
There is no way that the USA is going to allow the DPRK to just take over the South, even if we assume that they could beat the ROK armed forces.
Optimistically speaking, it will probably look like the North taking over the South and then proceeding to be invaded and bombed to death by the Americans and then maybe being bailed out by the Chinese, unleashing World War III.
You underestimate the power of the KPA and Worker-peasant red guards. The DPRK is very different from what it was during the Korean War, where it had a relatively feeble army with WW1-era weaponry and barely any industrial base. The DPRK today is more prepared for war than it was 75 years ago.
They could probably beat South Korea, but would they be able to handle the U.S. Armed Forces? Saddam’s army was one of the most powerful in the world but they got fucked over when the Americans came in. The U.S. has had much worse luck when it comes to guerilla warfare, including in Iraq after Saddam was overthrown. Is the DPRK ready for a guerrilla war or can they seriously take on the USA in conventional war?
but would they be able to handle the U.S. Armed Forces?
blocks ur path
Saddam’s army was one of the most powerful in the world
By what metrics?
Number it was like 1 million soldiers, but the iraq war was a shitfest with 10 years of sanctions under a dictator people don’t already like, no electricity no water and bribed officials betraying the country for the US
Just a reminder:
uncritical support for the 🇰🇵DPRK🇰🇵 in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire
how come u get to occupy s korea but we dont get to occupy n korea
its not fair
So far this decade seems to be defined by Western empire maneuvering and provoking its victims to “attack first.” We saw it with Russia and we saw it with the Palestinian resistance.
its a remarkably effective propaganda strategy. moral superiority cheatcode
It’s like poking a bear and pretending to be an innocent victim once it starts mauling you to death.
Once a critical mass is reached and the power disparity between the empire and the global south has flipped sufficiently in favor of the latter, it doesn’t matter who is perceived as the aggressor by those still under the influence of the imperialist media’s propaganda. I believe that Russia’s launching of their military operation demonstrates that we have already reached and passed that point. Russia’s bold move has opened the flood gates for others in the global resistance to strike blows at the empire and its proxies, but it was essential that someone make the first step to break the illusion of imperial untouchability and invincibility in the same vein as the Palestinian resistance shattered the illusions around the necolonial occupation’s viability. Now it is up to each actor in the broader anti-imperialist camp when and how to open their own front against the empire, but imo events are developing such that it is inevitably going to happen at some point. If they don’t the empire will force their hand anyway because it still delusionally overestimates its own strength. It’s just a matter of time.
Kim’s right on all fronts but one, yet it’s still sad that North Korea’s abandoning one country two systems solution.
The part I think he’s wrong is where South Korea is an “unchangeable enemy.” South Korea the state’s richer than ever yet Occupied Koreans feel poorer than ever. Their major media output’s either about the impossibility of the capitalist system or a fairy tale about marrying a rich capitalist to escape their material conditions. I’m sure that watching Chinese people (and hopefully North Koreans) actually get wealthier as a whole will wake them up, especially since South Korea will still be richer on paper.
South Koreans generally don’t have an issue with their northern siblings, but they hate China, Japan, and to a lesser extent, the USA.
“unchangeable enemy.”
North Korea uses really over-the-top language as their default setting. In practice the regime is very practical and would turn their description on a dime if the conditions warranted it IMO.
South Korea the state’s richer than ever yet Occupied Koreans feel poorer than ever. Their major media output’s either about the impossibility of the capitalist system or a fairy tale about marrying a rich capitalist to escape their material conditions. I’m sure that watching Chinese people (and hopefully North Koreans) actually get wealthier as a whole will wake them up, especially since South Korea will still be richer on paper.
All of this is true of the United States and the wider West but all I see is a doubling down on Sinophobia and white supremacism.
I want you to be right so much, but I just don’t see it.
Don't do that
Don’t give me hope
