North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, has said he cannot rule out a “complete collapse” of South Korea if it conducts “mischievous acts,” state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.
In a report on the ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, which traditionally takes place every five years, KCNA cited Kim as saying that North Korea has nothing to discuss with South Korea, referring to the neighbour as “the most hostile entity.”
Kim accused Seoul of merely pretending to seek dialogue, calling its “appeasement attitude, a clumsy, deceptive farce and a poor work”.
KCNA cited Kim as saying that, were South Korea to commit “mischievous acts” seen by the North, “as an act of harming our security environment, we can launch any action.”
He went on to say that he could not rule out South Korea’s “complete collapse” as a consequence.
“The ministry finds it very regrettable that North Korea unveiled a stance to continue the two hostile states (policy) without responding to our government’s efforts for peaceful coexistence,” South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in response, news agency Yonhap reported.
The ministry went on to say that it would continue to seek peaceful coexistence with its neighbour.
Kim, meanwhile, struck a more conciliatory tone when discussing the United States, saying that “there is no reason why we cannot get on well with the U.S.” as long as Washington dropped its “hostile policy” towards Pyongyang.
Relations between the two countries depended entirely “on the attitude of the U.S. side,” KCNA cited Kim as saying.
