North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announces radical policy shift in relations with South Korea

Kim made the announcement at the plenary session of the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, which was held from December 26-30, delivering a closing speech on "the orientation of struggle in 2024."

"The general conclusion drawn by our Party, looking back upon the long-standing north-south relations is that reunification can never be achieved with the ROK [South Korean] authorities that defined the 'unification by absorption' and 'unification under liberal democracy' as their state policy, which is in sharp contradiction with our line of national reunification based on one nation and one state with two systems ... The reality urgently requires us to adopt a new stand on the north-south relations and the reunification policy," Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

Actions by the United States and South Korea are plunging the Korean peninsula into an "uncontrollable crisis," Kim said, criticizing the US for bringing nuclear weapons to the peninsula.

"Physical clash can be caused and escalated even by a slight accidental factor in the area of along the Military Demarcation Line where large armed forces of both sides are standing in confrontation with one another," Kim said.

South Korea is completely "tainted by Yankee culture" and is currently nothing but a "colonial stooge" of the US, which is why inter-Korean relations must be reorganized, the North Korean leader said. The North Korean army must continuously prepare to conquer the entire territory of South Korea in the event of a nuclear conflict between the two countries, and be ready to mobilize all means, including nuclear weapons, Kim added.

Last week, the North Korean leader said Pyongyang would respond with a nuclear strike to any nuclear "provocations." On Wednesday, Kim instructed North Korea's military to accelerate "war preparations" to counter "extreme confrontation moves" by the United States and its allies on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the armed forces on Thursday to "immediately" respond to enemy attacks by retaliating first and only then reporting to "smash the enemy's desire for provocations."

(With UNI inputs)