North Korean leader Kim Jong Un redefined South Korea as a hostile nation on Saturday during the country’s week-long plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, according to a report in the party daily Rodong Sinmun. Kim’s comments indicate a bleak outlook for inter-Korean relations, as he described the two Koreas as “two hostile countries in a state of war.” This marks a departure from North Korea’s usual description of South Korea as part of the same but divided nation.

Kim emphasized that discussing reunification is inappropriate, referring to South Korea as “a colonial puppet of