“Our main enemy is the war itself, not South Korea or the United States, not any particular country or force,” said Kim Jong-un, chairman of the North Korean State Council and general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, as he bluntly expressed the policy of strengthening the national defense force. It is clear that it will develop strategic weapons under the pretext of increasing South Korean armaments and the US hostile policy while leaving the existing position of defining the US as the ‘biggest enemy’ and leaving the possibility of dialogue open. It is interpreted as sending a warning to accept North Korea’s armed protests as ‘securing self-defense’ rather than ‘provoking’ to improve relations.
According to the North Korean Central News Agency on the 12th, Chairman Kim delivered a commemorative speech at the Defense Development Exhibition ‘Self-Defense-2021’ held at the 3rd Revolution Exhibition Hall on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the founding of the party the day before. Chairman Kim emphasized that “it is the most important policy, goal, and will of our Party to possess and continue to strengthen an invincible military force that no one can injure,” he said. . He devoted a large part of his speech to explaining the justification for strengthening national defense.
Chairman Kim found his justification in South Korea and the United States. The ROK-U.S. combined military exercise (Korea-US exercise), advanced weapons such as South Korea’s stealth joint strike fighter and high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and the revision of missile guidelines were discussed one by one. “What’s more dangerous is their military modernization justification and their hypocritical and intense double attitude,” he said. It is in line with the argument for the withdrawal of an unfair double attitude as a ‘prerequisite’ for the declaration of an end to the war in a speech on the 29th of last month. Just as South Korea develops and introduces weapons for deterrence against North Korea, it is argued that North Korea’s weapons tests should be accepted as normal military exercises.
However, the conditional appeasement policy was maintained. Chairman Kim warned that defining North Korea’s armed demonstration as a ‘provocation’ would “never be tolerated, and we will face it with strong action.” It will never work.” By demanding that North Korea not provoke the development of strategic weapons, it is repeating the position that the responsibility for inter-Korean relations rests on the actions of the South. Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, said, “North Korea is trying to test the attitude of South Korea and the United States by testing its weapons system.”
He also expressed dissatisfaction with the United States. “While the United States is frequently sending signals that it is not hostile to our country, there is no behavioral basis to believe that it is not,” he said. In refusal of the Joe Biden administration’s “dialogue without conditions,” he demanded practical measures such as lifting sanctions against North Korea. However, by breaking the existing formula of ‘the United States = the main enemy’, it left open room for negotiations with North Korea. At the 8th Party Congress in January of this year, Chairman Kim defined the United States as the ‘biggest enemy’.
North Korea held the first national defense exhibition… First small SLBM unveiled
North Korea’s ‘water level control’ is also evident in the exceptionally held a national defense development exhibition instead of a military parade to commemorate the founding day of the party. It seems to be a strategy to simultaneously acquire the effect of armed protests and the image of a normal state by holding an exhibition.
At this event, a new ‘small’ submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a diameter of less than 1m was unveiled for the first time. It is presumed that the North Korean version of the Iskander missile (KN-23), a surface-to-surface missile, was converted into an SLBM type. In appearance, it is similar to the new SLBM that the South Korean military remodeled and launched on the 15th of last month, a surface-to-surface ballistic missile ‘Hyunmoo’. In addition to small SLBMs, North Korea also exhibited ‘next-generation game-changer’ hypersonic missiles (Hwasong-8) test-fired last month, medium- and short-range missiles, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM)-class missiles.
Kim Min-soon reporter soon@hankookilbo.com
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