North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced on September 22 that his government has “nothing to discuss with the Republic of Korea, and we have no shared affairs with them,” TASS reported, declaring that Pyongyang does not seek reunification with its southern neighbour. The remarks were made during a plenary session of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly and carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim’s remarks offer a stark affirmation of Pyongyang’s long-standing posture: a rejection of diplomatic overtures from Seoul and refusal to entertain reunification under the conditions currently envisioned. They are comments that will not go down well in either Seoul or Washington, particularly on the back of comments by South Korean President Lee 24-hours earlier in a BBC interview. By framing relations with South Korea in terms of hostility and distinct sovereign existence, North Korea is again clarifying what analysts have long described as a drift away from even nominal engagement.

In doing so, Kim insisted that the two Koreas have “effectively acted as two separate states” on the world stage in recent decades, noting that they both joined the United Nations in 1991. TASS went on to add that Kim emphasised that Pyongyang’s decision to regard Seoul as “another, most hostile state” was neither sudden nor recent. “

On the question of reunification, Kim was particularly blunt, saying that “there is absolutely no need for unification,” he declared. “Is there any example in history where such hostile states have unified?” he asked, continuing: “Why would we want such a unification if one disappears?” TASS reported.