"Due to Ministry of Unification Personnel" vs "Foreseen Since 8 Years Ago"... Kim Yo-jong Sparks Mixed Opinions Over 'Daehanminguk'

Park Ji-won "In the past, South Korea was a favorable term"
Kim Geun-sik "Mentioned 'Two Koreas' in 2015 column"

Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the Workers' Party of North Korea, used the term "Republic of Korea" instead of "South Joseon," leading to analyses of a "two Koreas" strategy. Meanwhile, opinions among diplomatic experts are divided over the cause of North Korea's policy shift. Some point to President Yoon Suk-yeol's "strong against strong" strategy as the cause, while others argue that the shift is due to North Korea's already established nationalism under Kim Jong-un's era.

On the 12th, former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won said on KBS's "Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs," "In the past, when they used 'Republic of Korea,' it was a very favorable term, but now it is a very belligerent term," adding, "This is because the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is taking a strong-against-strong approach, almost as if declaring war."

In two consecutive statements released on the 10th and 11th, Kim Yo-jong unusually used the term "Republic of Korea" instead of "South Joseon." This can be interpreted as viewing inter-Korean relations not as a special relationship but as a "state-to-state" relationship.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Former Director Park interpreted North Korea's change in attitude as a result of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's strong-against-strong policy. He said, "At the June 15, 2000 inter-Korean summit, Chairman Kim Jong-il always said to President Kim Dae-jung, 'from the Republic of Korea,' showing respect for us. But now, Kim Yo-jong's recent use of the title 'Republic of Korea' means it is now a foreign country."

When asked by the host whether President Yoon Suk-yeol's order to change the role of the Ministry of Unification and the appointment of hardliner Professor Kim Young-ho as the Minister of Unification influenced North Korea, he emphasized, "Of course, it did."

On the other hand, there are also views that the Kim Jong-un regime has already established a perspective of seeing South Korea as a "state" rather than a "nation."

Kim Geun-sik, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Kyungnam University and former Vision Strategy Office director of the People Power Party, said on social media that, "Embarrassingly, the 'two Koreas' strategy is actually something I have long discussed as a change in North Korea's strategy toward the South during Kim Jong-un's era."

He added, "In an August 2015 column for Maeil Business Newspaper, I named it the 'two Koreas' strategy, and during the Moon Jae-in administration, I continuously argued that no matter how much we proposed exchanges and cooperation from an ethnic perspective, it would not work due to Kim Jong-un's two-Korea strategy."

He explained that the concept of "nation" has disappeared from North Korea's official media in the Kim Jong-un era, replaced by the word "state." Examples include "Our Nation First-ism" changing to "Our State First-ism," "Kim Il-sung Nation" becoming "Kim Il-sung Joseon," and the disappearance of slogans like "ethnic cooperation" or "by our nation."

Former Director Kim said, "The fundamental policy implication of North Korea's shift to nationalism in its strategy toward the South is that North Korea itself is no longer interested in the existing post-Cold War sunshine policy, that is, reconciliation and cooperation policies," adding, "Kim Yo-jong's 'two Koreas' strategy signals that North Korea itself is moving away from the nostalgia of the sunshine policy."

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