North Korea Abruptly Deletes Article with Harsh Criticism of South Korea

Kim Jong-un Orders Suspension of Military Actions Against South Korea
Pause in Worsened Inter-Korean Relations Situation

Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea

North Korea, which had been spewing harsh anti-South criticism through external propaganda media, is showing unusual trends such as suddenly deleting a large number of related articles. Attention is focused on the background as Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, announced that he would put the military action plan against the South on hold.

On the 24th, a check of the websites of external propaganda media such as 'Chosun Today', 'Echo of Unification', and 'Echo' revealed that 13 anti-South articles reported in the early morning were all deleted within half a day. Until the day before, these media had mainly been used to stir up hostile public opinion by publishing daily anti-South articles.

On Chosun Today, six articles disappeared, including one titled "It will be deeply regretted," which criticized the South Korean government through the voice of a former Minister of Unification. Echo of Unification also deleted two articles, including "Who is really to blame?" which shifted responsibility for the breakdown of inter-Korean relations to the South, and Echo removed four articles including those reflecting residents' reactions.

The Ministry of Unification officially confirmed the deletion of these articles during a regular spokesperson briefing on the morning of the same day. Ministry spokesperson Yeo Sang-gi said, "We have confirmed that the posted articles were deleted," adding, "We will take more time to analyze the intent and background."

North Korea's Workers' Party organ newspaper Rodong Sinmun and the Cabinet organ newspaper Minju Chosun, which are read by all North Korean residents, also did not publish any articles criticizing leaflets on that day.

This article deletion measure was taken after reports emerged that Chairman Kim Jong-un decided to put the military action plan against the South on hold at the Workers' Party Central Military Commission preliminary meeting (6.23) that morning.

Additionally, it was confirmed that North Korea is dismantling the loudspeaker broadcasting facilities aimed at the South, which had been reinstalled in some frontline areas near the Peace Observatory in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, after three days. A military official stated, "North Korea is dismantling about ten loudspeakers reinstalled in some frontline areas near the Peace Observatory in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province."

There is an analysis that North Korea is stepping back from a tension-filled situation and entering a pause in inter-Korean relations.

Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies explained, "They judged that military action leading to armed conflict would not be beneficial to themselves," adding, "They seem to be concerned that if the South Korea-U.S. military exercises resume, they themselves will also become exhausted."

Professor Kim Dong-yeop of the Far East Research Institute at Gyeongnam University also analyzed, "North Korea itself is entering a pause and adjusting the level of tension internally," adding, "In a situation where they are focusing on an economic-centered frontal breakthrough, they probably thought that excessively escalating external tensions and moving toward a crisis situation would not be positive."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.