Home > National > North Korea

North Korea ups diplomatic efforts to legitimize policy to treat South as a 'hostile state,' Japanese media reports

Published: 14 Sep. 2025, 14:00 Updated: 14 Sep. 2025, 18:10

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept. 4. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

North Korea is ramping up diplomatic efforts to legitimize its shift toward treating South Korea as a “hostile state” after officially abandoning peaceful reunification, Japanese media reported on Saturday.

Kyodo News reported on Saturday, citing diplomatic sources, that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un explained the rationale behind the policy shift during a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Sept. 4. Kim reportedly asked for Beijing’s understanding and support.

But China’s official readout of the summit did not mention Pyongyang’s abandonment of unification.

Kim is also believed to have expressed the same position during his Sept. 3 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Russia, where he reportedly secured Putin's backing.

North Korea has been making similar overtures to other countries.

In August, Thae Hyong-chol, president of the Academy of Social Sciences, visited Mongolia and conveyed Pyongyang’s stance on shifting to a two-state framework — North Korea’s shift from its long-held goal of peaceful reunification with South Korea to treating the two as separate, sovereign nations in permanent hostility — and abandoning unification, according to Kyodo News. It marked the first time in eight years that the North dispatched the head of its academic institution to Mongolia.

Kyodo also noted the possibility that Pyongyang could send a high-level official to deliver a speech during the general debate at the United Nations General Assembly later this month. The official may publicly declare North Korea’s two-state position and attempt to justify the regime’s nuclear weapons policy during the address.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]