North Korea's Institute for Enemy Studies Warns Against "Blatant" South Korea-Japan Military Collusion

▲ South Korea-Japan Defense Ministers

North Korea has voiced its opposition to recent moves toward defense cooperation between South Korea and Japan.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kang Chol-su, a department head at the Institute for Enemy Studies, released a commentary titled "Dangerous Military Collusion Inviting Self-Destruction." He claimed, "The military collusion between South Korea and Japan—a war criminal state sprinting toward military expansionism—is becoming increasingly blatant, further endangering the security situation on the Korean Peninsula."

The Institute for Enemy Studies is presumed to be the renamed version of the "Institute for National Reunification," which was previously affiliated with the United Front Department.

The institute first made its existence known in November 2024, when it published a white paper criticizing the Yoon Suk Yeol administration over an alleged drone infiltration into Pyongyang.

Kang cited examples of strengthened defense cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo, such as defense ministerial talks and instances of the South Korean Air Force receiving refueling support from the Japan Self-Defense Forces. He expressed wariness, stating that such cooperation is aimed at establishing an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), which he described as "something that cannot be overlooked."

He further argued, "Security cooperation between Japan and South Korea is a confrontational alliance aimed directly at our Republic, and part of building a 'trilateral nuclear alliance' to militarily check neighboring countries by riding the coattails of U.S. hegemonic strategy."

He also emphasized, "Whether Japan and South Korea form a military alliance or whatever else they do, the absolute and unchangeable dynamic on the Korean Peninsula established by the world's strongest nuclear power will never, ever change." He added, "The reckless military collusion games played by hostile nations in front of a nuclear-armed state will only serve as a foolish act that invites their own destruction."

A South Korean Unification Ministry official assessed that North Korea's criticism of South Korea-Japan cooperation is an extension of its opposition to trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, noting that "releasing this under the name of a research institute appears to be a (relatively) low-level response."

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