SEOUL, March 29. /TASS/. The cardinal revision of the DPRK's policy in inter-Korean relations stems from the changes in the world order that the special military operation in Ukraine has brought about, researcher Chung Jae-hung of the South Korean Sejong University, has told TASS.
"The fact that in the wake of the North Korea-Russia summit in 2023 North Korea proclaimed inter-Korean ties as relations between two hostile states rather than parts of one nation is directly related to the rapidly changing world order," Ghung said.
The way he sees it, Pyongyang seeks to change the situation on the Korean Peninsula with the help of "a new multipolar world order led by China and Russia," while the Yoon Suk-yeol government in Seoul, advocating liberal democratic values, supports "the existing US-led unipolar world." The Republic of Korea leans on the Group of Seven and provides assistance to Kiev. The DPRK, for its part, supports Russia and is ready to strengthen relations with the global South, as well as, as the expert points out, with the BRICS and the SCO.
Chung, the Director of the Center for Chinese Studies noted the similarity of conflicts around Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula.
"From Russia's point of view, Ukraine's involvement in NATO's orbit would mean an inevitable revision of the security system in western Eurasia. Beijing similarly believes that the collapse of North Korea or unification under the auspices of the Republic of Korea and the United States would have a direct impact on the security system in eastern Eurasia," he explained.
"Further monitoring is needed to understand where the international order is evolving - toward a unilateral world, as the Republic of Korea hopes, or toward a multipolar world, which North Korea hopes to participate in. One thing is clear: Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula are closely interconnected and represent the key geopolitical and geo-economic problems of Eurasia," the analyst concludes.
Russia's victory in Ukraine and the implementation of the concept of a multipolar system may force the Republic of Korea to revise its approach to inter-Korean relations and foreign policy, Chung stressed.
Pyongyang's policy revision
At the December plenum, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un said that the Workers' Party of Korea no longer considered peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula through a dialogue. He added that the DPRK and the Republic of Korea had finally become "hostile states.". In January, he suggested constitutionally defining South Korea as the "main enemy" and to reserving the possibility of "retaking" South Korean territory in the event of war.
In early March, the South Korean presidential staff said it planned to amend the concept of unification of the peninsula for the first time in 30 years to include in it a provision for reunification based on "liberal democracy."