North Korea plans to restructure its inter-Korean affairs agencies amid shifts in policies toward South Korea.

The move comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a year-end speech that the country will redefine the South as a hostile enemy country rather than as a party to be reunited with.

The ruling Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Saturday that senior officials of organizations in charge of relations with the enemy met the previous day.

The newspaper said that the officials criticized South Korea for pursuing only the "collapse of the North's power" and "unification of absorption."
The officials affirmed the policy that the country will keep with the military action of the Korean People's Army to "suppress the whole territory of the southern half of the Republic."

The newspaper said that the meeting decided to "readjust" all relevant organizations of North Korea established for improving inter-Korean relations and peaceful reunification.

These include an agency to implement a joint declaration adopted at the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000 and another dealing with joint businesses with the South.

South Korea's intelligence agency has warned of a high probability that Pyongyang will carry out military provocations before the South holds a general election in April. The election is widely viewed as an interim evaluation of the administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol.