North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared that he will no longer seek reunification with South Korea, announcing plans to bolster its military arsenal in 2024.⁠ ⁠ Kim went on to describe North-South relations as those between “two hostile countries,” asserting that South Korea has become a colonized state dependent on the U.S. for defense, reported CNN.⁠ ⁠ “I believe that it is a mistake that we must no longer make to deal with the people who declare us as ‘the main enemy’ and seek only opportunities for ‘[our] regime collapse’ and ‘unification by absorption’ by collaborating for reconciliation and unification,” said Kim.⁠ ⁠ In response, South Korea’s defense ministry warned of overwhelming retaliation in the face of any nuclear aggression “by utilizing the dramatically strengthened extended deterrence of the ROK-U.S. alliance and the three-axis system, and the Kim Jong-Un regime will face its end.”⁠ ⁠ South Korea’s Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho would later reiterate the nation’...