Something Really Has Changed in North Korea

Last week I wrote about the concerns of a pair of North Korea analysts that something had changed in the tone of the rhetoric emanating from Kim Jong Un. Of course North Korea has a long history of belligerent talk and threats against the US but something about this seemed different and more urgent. Kim said he was giving up on reunification with South Korea. Instead, South Korea would now be considered the North’s top enemy.

But it’s more than just empty rhetoric. Sometime over the past few days Kim ordered a monument meant to symbolize hope for reunification torn down.

Kim last week described the Pyongyang monument as an “eyesore” and called for its removal while declaring that the North was abandoning long-standing goals of a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of the North’s constitution to define the South as its most hostile foreign adversary.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC appeared to show the destruction of Pyongyang’s Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, also called the Arch of Reunification. An image Tuesday clearly showed the arch missing along a roadway.

Clouds and snow cover made it difficult to ascertain when North Korea tore down the monument, but it appeared to be within the last few days. NKNews, a website focused on North Korea, first reported on the satellite images.

The arch was a 30-meter (about 100-foot) tall structure that looked over a highway leading to the city of Kaesong near the border with South Korea.

Here’s what it looked like:

According to reports, North Korea has demolished a major monument, informally known as the Arch of Reunification, which symbolizes the goal of reconciliation with South Korea. According to a report by NK News, the monument is no longer visible there in satellite imagery. #UPDATE pic.twitter.com/rlL2R2JnWu

— Bnz English (@BnzEnglish) January 23, 2024

In addition to removing the monument, North Korea also fired off more missiles.

On Wednesday, South Korea’s military said North fired several cruise missiles into waters off its western coast, adding to a provocative run of weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening nuclear tensions with the United States, South Korea and Japan.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the US and South Korean militaries were analysing the launches. It did not immediately confirm the exact number of missiles fired or their specific flight details.

Finally, something else which seems very out of the ordinary for the North Korean leader. This week he acknowledged the dire situation in which much of his country is living. Though he blamed his party officials for the lack of basic necessities, it was still something of a surprise that he would bring it up at all.

Speaking at the two-day party meeting, which began Tuesday, Kim labeled the economic problem as a “serious political issue,” saying that his government revealed the “inability to provide even basic necessities such as basic foodstuffs, groceries, and consumer goods to the local people.”

“The overall local economy is currently in a very pitiful state, lacking even basic conditions,” Kim said at a politburo plenary meeting, as cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency Thursday…

Sources inside North Korea told Radio Free Asia in May that as many as 30% of farmers in two northern provinces were unable to work on collective farms because they’re weak from hunger.

Urging improvements in the economic situation, Kim scolded his party officials, urging them to take immediate action.

You get the overall impression that Kim sees himself in a desperate situation. His already poor economy is collapsing and he seems ready to lash out militarily at those he considers his enemies even as he cozies up to Russia and China. It’s a very dangerous situation for South Korea but also for the US which has a lot of troops stationed there.