North Korea Designates South Korea as Target for 'Collective Punishment'

North Korea, taking issue with remarks by U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Xavier Brunson (the commander in charge of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea) regarding South Korea, has claimed that the South will become a "critical target of collective punishment." According to the Korean Central News Agency on the 25th, Kang Chol-su, a section chief at North Korea's Institute for Research on Enemies of the State, argued in an article titled "The Critical Center of Collective Defense Will Become the Critical Target of Collective Punishment" that "South Korea, which has emerged as the 'critical center of collective defense' in line with America's strategic interests, will become the critical target of collective punishment."

"The fact that South Korea's military value has risen to that of the 'critical center of collective defense' means that the entire territory of South Korea serves as a key base for the United States to wage wars of aggression abroad, and that as America's No. 1 mercenary, it will be deployed first wherever its master demands," Kang said. He characterized the deployment of MQ-9 Reaper drone units in South Korea, the augmentation of F-16 fighter jets, and moves to deploy Multi-Domain Rapid Response Forces as "part of practical measures to draw South Korea deep into the 'collective defense' framework." Regarding joint and multinational exercises such as Ulchi Freedom Shield, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), and Pacific Vanguard, he also claimed that "the fact that South Korean forces have been made to participate in multinational exercises to enhance their capability to conduct combined operations systems and integrated operations is proof of this."

Kang escalated his criticism by listing South Korea's military policies, including increased defense spending, the construction of nuclear submarines, and incorporation into an integrated missile defense system. Going through these items one by one, he denounced South Korea for "playing its role as a first-rate war slave for all it is worth, heedless of death." He went on to state, "South Korea has been transformed into the most certain evil presence fomenting instability in the region and the world," adding, "We will crush and smash with overwhelming force, without mercy, any challenge whatsoever that poses a threat to our security sphere."

North Korea's remarks come in response to the joint statement issued a day earlier by the foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan. In a statement issued in reaction to the statement, which reaffirmed a commitment to the "complete denuclearization of North Korea," Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui emphasized, "I once again declare and reaffirm in the most resolute terms our state's unwavering resolve to possess nuclear weapons, absolutely unchanging even after a hundred or a thousand years." The statement was published in the Rodong Sinmun on the 25th.