North Korea has abolished agencies responsible for handling peaceful reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, state media KCNA reported.

The report also reaffirmed the country's earlier declaration that it is no longer considering the possibility of reunification with South Korea.

Scrapping agencies

The decision to scrap several government bodies in charge of inter-Korean affairs was made on Monday (Jan. 15) at the 10th session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) held in Pyongyang.

North Korea declared its belief in "national reunification based on one nation, one state, and two systems", which contradicts with what it believed to be South Korea's state policy of "unification through absorption" and "institutional unification."

It is therefore "anachronistic" to regard South Korea as the partner of reconciliation and reunification, the report wrote.

Eliminate concepts such as "reunification"

In the Jan. 15, 2024 session, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also vowed to take down the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification located in the south of Pyongyang.

The monument, also known as the Arch of Reunification, was built in 2001 during Kim's father's reign to the possibility of a Korean Peninsula reunification.

Kim called the giant monument an "eyesore", vowing to eliminate concepts such as "reunification", "reconciliation", and "fellow countrymen" from North Korean history.

South Korea "principal enemy"

The same session also proclaimed South Korea as a "principal enemy", declaring it as the "state most hostile" to North Korea.

Pyongyang will also specify in its constitution the issue of "occupying, subjugating, and reclaiming" South Korea and subjugating it into its territory in the event of war on the Korean peninsula, Kim said.

Kim also asserted the necessity of deleting expressions such as "northern half" and "independence, peaceful reunification, and great national unity" in the constitution.

Inter-Korean cooperation vital: U.S.

In response to Kim's statement, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to "punish North Korea multiple times as hard" in the event of provocation, according to Yonhap.

Yoon said that the current government leading South Korea is different from any previous government, and the country's military "has an overwhelming response capability".

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that they are "disappointed by [North Korea's] continued rejection of dialogue and the escalation of its hostile rhetoric towards [South Korea]", Yonhap reported.

"We believe inter-Korean cooperation is vital to achieving lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," the spokesperson said.

Top image via KCNA.