North Korea, throwing off the 'mask of peace', reaffirms its hostile stance toward South Korea by putting the '10 countries' list of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the forefront. > News

The spark for this conflict was the joint statement adopted by President Lee Jae-myung and the leaders of the European Union (EU). At the summit held in Brussels, both sides made it clear that they could never acknowledge North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons and strongly condemned the illegal and dangerous military closeness between Russia and North Korea. North Korea viewed this cooperation from the international community as a serious hostile act that violated its sovereignty. They expressed strong displeasure, saying that it was a deception that instantly threw away the policy principles such as 'respect for the system' and 'non-pursuit of hostility' that the Korean government had been advocating. This is interpreted as North Korea's blatant expression of its will to no longer accept the international community's universal demand for denuclearization as an area of ​​dialogue.

The most noteworthy part of this discourse is the emergence of a new organization called the ‘10 Bureaus of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’. North Korea downsized the Unification Front Department, which was previously an organization dedicated to dealing with South Korea, and established 10 new bureaus under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, completely incorporating affairs with South Korea into the diplomatic sphere. This is the first time that the title 'Spokesperson for 10 countries' has been revealed in North Korean media, and this is a result of the strategic intention of the Kim Jong-un regime to solidify inter-Korean relations as a relationship between hostile countries rather than a special ethnic relationship. This organization, led by First Vice Minister and Director of the 10th Bureau Jang Geum-cheol, is packaging its message to South Korea in harsher and more diplomatic language in the future, signaling that it will thoroughly treat South Korea as a 'hostile country' just like external forces.

North Korea raised the level of criticism towards South Korea to the highest level, even using crude expressions such as 'America's dagger for invasion of the Asian continent.' They ridiculed Korea for revealing its true colors hidden behind the silk cloth called peace, and once again emphasized the reality that peaceful coexistence can never exist between North and South Korea. In particular, while not directly naming President Lee Jae-myung, he showed an attitude of denying the entire current government's North Korea policy by using the expression 'the person in power.' This hard-line attitude from North Korea goes beyond simply opposition to this joint statement, and can be read as a strong warning message that any form of dialogue or peaceful proposal in the future will be viewed as a deception that undermines its principle of adversarial action.

Despite North Korea's opposition, our government is maintaining its unwavering stance to pursue a policy of peaceful coexistence. Blue House officials made it clear that this joint statement merely reaffirmed the principles of the international community that had already been announced and was not a provocation aimed at putting new pressure on North Korea. However, experts are concerned that as North Korea completely transfers its affairs with South Korea to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and maintains a systematic hostile stance through the organization of 10 countries, the momentum for building trust between South and North Korea will decline significantly in the future. Some are pointing out that a detailed review is needed to determine whether a pragmatic diplomatic strategy that prioritizes condemnation of North Korea can lead to a change in North Korea's attitude, or whether it will result in deepening tensions.