North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un who gave the order, last week called the rival a "primary foe" and said unification was no longer possible
North Korea on Tuesday demolished a major monument in its capital that symbolised the goal of reconciliation with South Korea.
North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un who gave the order, last week called the rival a "primary foe" and said unification was no longer possible.
Kim Jong Un on Monday vowed to remove a massive monument to the possible reunification of the Korean Peninsula that his father constructed in Pyongyang, calling it an “eyesore.”
Kim’s call during a speech at a Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) meeting in Pyongyang was the latest in a string of recent bellicose statements from the North Korean leader, including a New Year’s declaration that the North was ending a policy of seeking reconciliation with South Korea.
Reuters reports that satellite imagery of Pyongyang on Tuesday showed that the monument, an arch symbolising hopes for Korean reunification which was completed after a landmark inter-Korea summit in 2000, was no longer there, according to a report by NK News.
Tensions have spiked on the Korean peninsula following intensifying military manoeuvres by the South Korean and U.S. militaries in response to weapons testing by the North, which said it was readying for a "nuclear war" with its enemies.
The arch, formally known as the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, stood 30 meters tall and was symbolic of the three charters, which were self-reliance, peace and national cooperation, according to South Korean government records.
The North and South remain technically at war, but both sides have long declared an ultimate goal of one day peacefully reunifying the peninsula and viewed each other as members of the same family.
But Kim’s most recent rhetoric moves away from the goal of reunification and instead is increasingly portraying South Korea as an implacable foe.
Straddling the Reunification Highway between Pyongyang and the demilitarised zone separating the North and South, the nine-storey arch called the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification was completed in 2001 after two years of construction.
It symbolises the efforts of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung to set guidelines for uniting North and South Korea.
Kim Jong Un on Monday declared an emphatic end to reunification thinking.