North revives 'confrontational struggle' language at meeting

North Korea

Published: 12 Jun. 2022, 18:17

North revives 'confrontational struggle' language at meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, called for stronger “self-defense” measures to tackle “very serious” security challenges while presiding over the fifth plenary session of the ruling Workers’ Party’s eighth Central Committee last week, pictured in this photograph published by the state-controlled Rodong Sinmun on Saturday. [NEWS1]

North Korea is preparing for a "confrontational struggle," Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday as the defense chiefs of the United States, South Korea and Japan met to discuss ways to rein in the North's nuclear and missile ambitions.

Presiding over the fifth plenary session of the ruling Workers’ Party’s eighth Central Committee, which lasted from Wednesday to Friday, leader Kim Jong-un called for stronger “self-defense” measures to tackle “very serious” security challenges, with the state-controlled Rodong Sinmun reporting that during the session the regime had settled on “the principles and strategic direction to be followed in the confrontational struggle and external relations."

The phrase “confrontational struggle” was last used to describe the North's approach to external affairs in 2020, when Kim Yo-jong — Kim’s younger sister and key figure in the country’s leadership — threatened to change the regime’s approach to South Korea “into that of complete confrontation” in response to South Korean human rights groups sending anti-regime leaflets over the inter-Korean border.

The North also shut down inter-Korean communication lines and demolished the Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong that June.

While Pyongyang’s state media reports of the party meeting did not specify the timing of a potential nuclear test, leader Kim’s remarked that current tensions are “urging us to achieve the objective of strengthening our defense capabilities,” suggesting a test may come sooner rather than later.

One goal that the regime has in mind to bolster its military capabilities includes developing a tactical nuclear warhead to fit atop a ballistic missile.

A key item on the agenda of the North’s most recent five-year national plan, promulgated in January 2021, was the miniaturization of nuclear weapons. A new nuclear test by the regime could be aimed at verifying its capability to successfully detonate such tactical nuclear warheads.

New appointments announced at the fifth plenary session also suggest the North is gearing up for a more confrontational stance toward South Korea and the United States.

State media reported that Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who played a key role in denuclearization talks, was promoted to the post of foreign minister, while Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon has been charged with leading the party’s United Front Department, which handles relations with South Korea.

Meanwhile, the defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Saturday to increase cooperation to counter North Korea’s missile threats through combined security exercises, including missile warning drills, Seoul's defense ministry said.

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

The defense chiefs “agreed to conduct South Korea-U.S.-Japan missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercises,” according to a Korean defense ministry press release.

While the exercises took place regularly in the past, they are now expected to occur “more publicly” to send a clearer signal to the North, according to a ministry official.

In a sign that Seoul is drawing closer to Washington’s stance toward Beijing, the ministry said the three defense chiefs “expressed strong opposition to any unilateral acts that change the status quo and heighten regional tension” and “underscored the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

Lee also said Sunday that South Korea plans to have a “serious” dialogue with Japan to normalize security cooperation between the two countries.

Security cooperation with Tokyo has long been a fraught issue in Seoul, where domestic anger toward Japanese claims to Korean territory and alleged historical revisionism regarding the country’s 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula has complicated U.S. efforts to get its Asian allies to cooperate.

While Lee acknowledged the two countries had “unresolved issues” stemming from Japan’s colonial rule, he said Seoul wants “the two sides put their wisdom together to reach reasonable solutions in a way that is in line with shared interests.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]