Security Chief: "North Korea's Military Tension... South Korea's Admiration Due to Threat Level to Regime"

Jang Ho-jin, the Director of the National Security Office, analyzed on the 14th that the heightened military tension from North Korea is due to the admiration for South Korean society within North Korea reaching a level that threatens the regime.

On the same day, Director Jang appeared on an SBS news program in the afternoon and said, "Cutting ties with South Korea is politically burdensome, but it was necessary to maintain the regime even if it had to be endured."

Director Jang explained, "When North Korea calls us the number one enemy, I found it not frightening but very interesting," adding, "North Korea’s intention seems to be to sever ties between the two Koreas to send a message that it can carry out a nuclear attack in the future. Secondly, it is to suppress North Korea’s heightened dissatisfaction and strengthen internal unity, and thirdly, I think it was an attempt to cause instability and division in our society ahead of the general election."

He pointed out, "North Korea has called us a puppet of the United States until now. A puppet means acting according to someone else’s will," and added, "But changing us overnight to the number one enemy means North Korea is admitting that it lied to its own people."

Regarding countermeasures if North Korea carries out a localized provocation, he responded that President Yoon Suk-yeol has chaired the Central Integrated Defense Council for two consecutive years, and "We have prepared and reviewed comprehensive response plans for various types of North Korean provocations."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the changed South Korea-Japan relations within a year, he said, "Since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965, we have normalized the South Korea-Japan relationship, which was at its lowest point," mentioning, "A magnanimous decision was made regarding the forced labor ruling issue, and the leaders of both countries exchanged visits." He also cited the restoration of the whitelist, a currency swap worth about 10 billion dollars, and the establishment of an early warning missile system for North Korea involving South Korea, the U.S., and Japan as elements of change.

He added, "Some say the historical issues are still insufficient, but now as bilateral relations develop, we are resolving the problems left by history," and conveyed, "In Japanese local media, there are quite a few editorials and columns urging to face historical issues directly and move forward positively, but when South Korea-Japan relations were at their lowest, there was no such movement at all."

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