From the majestic complex that hosted the reunion of families separated by the Korean War (1950-1953), only ruins remain. In February, North Korea destroyed this symbol of rapprochement with the South, built in the east of the country, at the foot of Mount Kumgang (Kumgangsan :: “Mountain of Diamond”), setting of nature most represented in Korean painting. After having demolished the ark of the reunification of Pyongyang, in 2024, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (RPDC), the official name of North Korea, thus erased the last symbol of the policy of rapprochement of the two Koreas, carried out for a quarter of a century. In the previous months, the Kim Jong-un regime had energized the roads and the railway connecting the two countries.
This change of attitude towards South Korea illustrates the diplomatic repositioning operated over the past two years by the RPDC, a small country of 25 million inhabitants, sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council for its nuclear program, and pinned by the Western camp as a “clamping state” for its non-compliance with international standards. It constitutes new proof of the skill of the North Korean regime, which has become an expert in “Survival diplomacy aimed at getting around the rules to serve your interests ”according to the expression of Andreï Lankov, specialist in North Korea at the private university of Kookmin, in Seoul.
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Source: Lemonde