▲ Seven former North Korean diplomats attend a forum, hosted by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, in Seoul on Oct. 10, 2024, over North Korea's "two hostile states" stance. (Yonhap)

ex-NK diplomats-unification

N. Korea's Kim yet to secure people's backing of his '2 hostile states' stance: ex-diplomat

SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea may not have included leader Kim Jong-un's "two hostile states" stance in a revised constitution as the regime has been unable to fully get people to understand his anti-unification policy, a former North Korean diplomat said Thursday.

North Korea amended the socialist constitution at a key parliamentary meeting earlier this week but did not disclose details about whether it dropped unification-related clauses or clarified the nation's territorial boundaries, including the maritime border, in line with Kim's order.

Inter-Korean unification had been a long-standing state goal for North Korea since the leadership of late national founder Kim Il-sung though the North has pursued unification by force.

Tae Yong-ho, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to Britain, told a forum in Seoul that North Korea apparently has yet to secure people's understanding of Kim's stance that South and North Korea are two separate states hostile to each other.

"A brake seems to be put on Kim's pursuit of (the two hostile states stance)," said Tae, secretary-general of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC), adding that the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, has not carried any commentaries and editorials in support of Kim's policy.

In regard to North Korea's move to cut off all roads and railways connected to South Korea, Tae said the North seems to have taken administrative steps first before fully coming up with theoretical grounds to let its people understand Kim's stance.

Tae was one of seven former North Korean diplomats speaking at the forum, hosted by the PUAC, as a venue to assess North Korea's increased animosity toward South Korea under Kim's "two belligerent states" stance.

Ko Young-hwan, who came to South Korea in 1991 in the first case of defection by a North Korean diplomat, said erasing unification references seems to be "burdensome" for the North Korean regime as it means the reversal of a decadeslong legacy sought by Kim Il-sung and late former leader Kim Jong-il.

Kim Dong-su, a former second secretary at North Korea's embassy in Italy, said Kim's stance does not appear to mean that North Korea has given up the unification goal.

"The 'two hostile states' stance both reveals the regime's belligerence and vulnerability," Kim said, assessing Kim Jong-un's policy as a unification strategy to be pursued through nuclear force.

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