[News UP] Kim Jong-un said, "South Korea, an enemy country that is not of the same kind...Unwavering physicality".

■ Host: anchor Yoon Jae-hee
■ Starring: former Vice Unification Minister Kim Hyung-seok

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[Anchor]
Let's take a look at the situation on the Korean Peninsula, where tensions are rising, with former Vice Unification Minister Kim Hyung-seok. Please come in.

[Kim Hyung-seok]
Nice to meet you.

[Anchor]
Before Chairman Kim Jong-un, we reported this.Ma mentioned the land blast yesterday. It was aired this morning. If you look at the content, it is to cut off the bad relationship with Seoul that has been persistent. And it is to shake off the unrealistic perception of unification. I mentioned it like this. How should I look at it?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
The message you presented is not new. But why did Kim Jong-un come out and talk about it at this point? In a way, I think Kim Jong-un felt a sense of crisis. So, on the 14th, we will convene a defense and safety council in Pyongyang. That's how their claimed drones appeared in the sky in Pyongyang and distributed flyers. Then it's a huge sense of crisis for North Korea. And behind this is the Republic of Korea.

In the end, I think Kim Jong-un's sense of crisis about the Republic of Korea's hostile behavior toward North Korea was reflected, and the North's frontline unit in the Yellow Sea came to give this message. And conversely, on October 1st, we released Hyunmoo-5. This is a bunker buster that has a tremendous destructive power. And it's also used in the Middle East. Then, Kim Jong-un might have thought it easy until now. Do you think he'll do this when he says he's going to be beheading?

But if you look at it now, there's something going on around the world that you couldn't have said. We are not making an extreme choice of North Korea by such physical force, but we are asking North Korea to come out on a path of dialogue and cooperation, but I think Kim Jong-un came all the way to Hwanghae Island and gave this message.

[Anchor]
I want you to look at the screen a little bigger. That's the screen reported by the Korean Central News Agency, and it's the kind of screen where Chairman Kim Jong-un visited a brigade on combat readiness. There is a big map on the table right now, and the Seoul area is marked here. Do you think there's a part where you're showing it publicly on purpose?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
[Voiceover] Right. It's typically intentional. So this October, a drone penetrated Jung-gu Station in Pyongyang. That's where Kim Jong-un's Central Government Complex is located at Jung-gu Station. So they're trying to give a strong message that they can attack Seoul, that is, the center of the Republic of Korea.

[Anchor]
Following this, he also mentioned that if Korea attacks us, we will use our physical force without hesitation if this happens again. Do you think the level of threat is a little higher?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
That's what I've done before. Because their sovereignty is kind of violated. Then I won't stand still. The fundamentals will not fall behind North Korea's strong and powerful forces. Now, we are in a situation where we confront and confront each other by force. I'm saying I won't be pushed out here. If you look at it, you can explode it this time, do various provocations, and make provocations in the future, for example, for the U.S. presidential election or change the situation. Then, there is a possibility that our Republic of Korea and the international community will do something like that that could put a serious burden on North Korea for the provocation. So, it can be seen as a threatening warning to block it in advance.

[Anchor]
We just saw Kim Jong Un unfolding the map and looking at it. It was a map of Seoul. Looking back recently, as North Korea flies garbage balloons, GPS is found in some of them, so I'm a little concerned about that, but can we see it like this?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
You can see it. And if you look at it now, we're talking about GPS, but from a physical point of view, North Korea has that level and ability to attack us. But I'm not doing it. Because when you do it, it's basically an act of war, and in North Korean terms, you can't do it because there's a huge backlash and damage to North Korea. It's not because we can't do it, but because we can't do it in the current situation and we're still losing our interests, so we shouldn't neglect this.

[Anchor]
I see. Yesterday, North Korea released the news of the bombing of the inter-Korean road in two days. Four years ago, there was a bombing of the South-North Joint Liaison Office, and at that time, it was released in two hours, but is there a reason why it was released in two days this time?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
I don't see any other special intentions. Because the road blast itself was already foreseen. However, if you look at the situation at that time, there is a high possibility that the priorities have been pushed back from within North Korea. So, as Kim Jong-un comes and sends a special message today, if you look at the bombing on the 15th at that time, Kim Yo-jong will continue to be responsible for the drone, and our military is behind it, and there will be a huge consequence.

And the U.S. should be responsible for this because the U.S. bought it. I kept going in this direction. And isn't the priority actually behind because they are preparing for various combat readiness? And I blew it up, and I paid for it externally, and it's nothing new to send a message internally. And internally, 1.4 million young people filed petitions and held competitions across North Korea, so internally, there was no incentive to do this quickly and control it internally.

In other words, it seems a little late in terms of focusing more on the drone part, and the other thing is that Kim Yo-jong made a statement earlier this morning. Looking at our press reports. So, one of the photos released by North Korea at our Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday is our picture, not because of copyright. It means that some of them were filmed on NBC or Reuters in the United States. That's how much we're obsessed with this so-called part by looking at our internal trends. They may have needed time to secure the photo because they didn't have such a stimulating photo that the North Koreans deservedly released it. So I don't think it's necessary to interpret it that way just because it was released two days later.

[Anchor]
Regarding the released photos, the North Korean side would say it's that kind of show, and I think there must have been filming or something like that to do that, but I guess there wasn't that.

[Kim Hyung-seok]
I don't think there was one. If I had, I would have used it.

[Anchor]
I see. You said you had no special intention of revealing it two days later. It seems that North Korea is disclosing it internally according to a certain trend. In this regard, since the Lexus vehicle was confirmed at the scene, the South Korean military authorities are highly analyzing the possibility that Kim Jong-un made a field inspection, but if he did, I think it will be released soon.

[Kim Hyung-seok]
So, according to North Korean reports, Kim Jong-un convened a defense and security meeting in Pyongyang on the 14th. And that's where I figured out all the situations. Then, railways and roads were blown up on the 15th, and if you look at the report today, you will have visited the command of the 2nd Corps in Hwanghae-do on the 17th, so it is very likely that you have seen various movements and schedules. But why didn't we reveal this? That's inside North Korea.We have to wait and see.

[Anchor]
I see. Yesterday, while reporting the bombing scene, it was disclosed as if it included the fact that the Constitution stipulated the Republic of Korea as a hostile country. It was released 10 days after the constitution was revised, how do you see this part?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
If you look at it, I should've revealed it right away, but I didn't. But if you look at the expression yesterday, it was blown up according to the constitution's demands, as it was regulated as a hostile country. So I'm saying that I've revised the constitution. So if you look at this, there is an analysis that the reason why we didn't do it is because it is burdensome to achieve unification and nationality within North Korea, so we delay it to form an internal consensus, but rather than that, this itself disturbs us.

That's why I keep wondering what North Korea is doing, so I keep getting curious. So, it becomes one that attracts North Korea to the center of the topic within us. If you look at this right away, the constitution was revised over the expression of regulation, but it did not. And furthermore, there are no straightforward words, but the government doesn't know about this. In this way, there are many things that separate the government and the private sector.

So maybe the thing that's slipped in is that there hasn't been a consensus within North Korea, but it's trying to provoke a lot of interest within us and bring something division within us. If you look at it, today's Kim Yo-jung discourse is that she reacts immediately in the morning with what came out in our media yesterday. So I think it's a salami tactic to take advantage of our internal media and use it, and I think it's the purpose of dividing public opinion.

[Anchor]
It's also noteworthy that we've stopped using subject terms. It's very important in North Korea because it's based on the year Kim Il-sung was born, so what does it mean to stop using it?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
We have to wait and see. Some media say that it is the subject, so it may be because the instructions have not been properly spread yet, but we have to wait and see. Because in 2015, I went from North Korea to Pyongyang perspective and then went back again. So, we have to wait and see if it will continue, but if we say that we remove the term subject, of course, Kim Jong-un will become independent of his predecessor, Kim Il-sung, or Kim Jong-il and go his own way. It can be interpreted as a way to show that the so-called "My Way" is going.

[Anchor]
In the midst of this, the media continues to appear that the North Korean military is dispatched to Russia by helping Russia. You said that our ambassador to the U.S. is highly likely, what do you think, Deputy Minister?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
It seems highly likely. First of all, President Zelensky said that the first place to speak was information. Russia is fake news about that. And there is good probability in the West. From this point of view, I think the probability is sufficient. And what President Zelensky initially said is important, which is not the war between Russia and Ukraine. North Korea has already intervened. This is an international war. Then, from Ukraine's point of view, it is difficult to deal with Russia, but the intention is to give more power to the West. In particular, I said it even when I went to NATO this time. So first of all, it's said that there is such an intention, but I think it seems very unlikely that President Zelensky will talk about something completely unfounded.

[Anchor]
Some say there are 10,000 people, some say there are less than 3,000 people, and some say that the size of the troops are mixed, and some say that the troops are from the rear. There is also a prospect that special forces will have been deployed to accumulate practical experience, so what do you think about this?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
There can be a lot of things. In the past, if you look at North Korea's case, you haven't sent combat troops directly, have you? So in this case, should we send combat troops? That would mean gaining hands-on experience abroad. But I don't think it's at that stage yet. So didn't you support munitions weapons, including KN-23. So how can we manipulate those areas well? Like this kind of military operation, support, and there's a kind of support unit in the rear, special forces among the North Korean forces. For example, I think they did it against an auxiliary force like snipers or detection.

[Anchor]
Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Hyun-dong said that the North Korean issue is no longer a South Korea-U.S. issue and that it should be dealt with in a broader dimension. What do you think it means?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
Widespread means that North Korea first intervened in the Russian war. And the other reason for that intervention is that through our summit with Putin in June, we established a comprehensive strategic partnership, including mutual military aid. So, not only is it limited to the stage of North Korea within the Korean Peninsula, but the area of activity has already gone to the international realm. So, in the case of the war in Ukraine, Europe also has an impact. Of course, there's the U.S. So, this is something that the international community should be involved in, and for that to happen, it's simply a matter of the Korean Peninsula, but it means that the international community should step up, not like this, but like this.

[Anchor]
However, there is no special way for the international community to step up, such as the UN Security Council. There are a lot of comments like this.

[Kim Hyung-seok]
So, the most important thing in the international community is to voluntarily respect and follow such norms. Aren't there a lot of so-called deviant countries? You can't do that. Then you have to press it with your strength. So you can't just say it in words. It is important to operate a tight management network that can be pressed with force and controlled. So if North Korea and Russia's various behaviors are problematic, countries with opposing opinions should cooperate with a single position and make concentrated efforts.

[Anchor]
I think the time has come when our government's response and strategy are more important than ever, so what strategies are needed?

[Kim Hyung-seok]
In the current situation, North Korea is threatening and intimidating in that way, and in a way, they're kind of threatening us, misleading us as if we're threatening. That's the reason to make something provocative as we feared. In the international community's view, we can't just be beaten because we're beaten like this, it's kind of victim cosplay. There is a possibility of such provocation, so we have to respond to this. But that doesn't mean you just talk conciliatory here.

There is really nothing left here if North Korea makes a thorough provocation. You have to give this sense of crisis. So at times like this, don't you have a firm will and a strong message to North Korea? The end of the regime, this is true, but for now, I think Chairman Kim Jong-un is feeling a crisis. So, we need to keep sending strong messages and secure our readiness. The next important thing is that North Korea will think that war is death in order to survive. We also need to show terrorism that can come out to survive.

So if you guys do this, you can live like this. I need to show it. That's what I've said every time, but it's asking you to come to the dialogue for denuclearization, and there can be various signals. Therefore, it is necessary to manage the situation while strongly restraining it by force, but also show the retreat. What's important is that North Korea will definitely be aiming for this internal division of opinion. Don't we have enough to explain to the people about this and there are a lot of worries about the war now?

But the government may certainly do so so that such concerns do not arise here, and it should not be like this. There can be no such situation, and we are definitely responsible for this. Isn't it our fault about North Korea by making it clear in this way to dispel such concerns? Shouldn't we be more conciliatory? Should we do it with our own strength? I think it is important to create an atmosphere of public opinion management so that such controversy does not prevail.

[Anchor]
I see. I took a closer look at the North Korean issue. I was with former Vice Unification Minister Kim Hyung-seok. Thank you.