Seoul's unification minister says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent decision to depart from his father and grandfather's pursuit of inter-Korean unification could lead to ideological confusion in the regime. 

South Korea's unification minister Kim Yung-ho introduced his assessment of the situation appearing on a KBS news program on Sunday, warning that the move could make the regime carry out further military provocations in a bid to ride out the ideological confusion among the elites.

[Sound bite: Minister of Unification Kim Yung-ho (Korean-English)]
“Erasing the achievements of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, who are the basis for hereditary power? Dismantling the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, calling it an eyesore? These moves are highly likely to create ideological confusion among North Korea's elite ranks. If internal conflict arises, the North is highly likely to engage in military provocations to ride out the crisis. The Seoul government takes the situation very seriously and has produced response measures such as military deterrents.”​ 

Following his characterization of the two Koreas as two independent states at war late last year, Kim last month ordered the dismantlement of the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, which honored the unification efforts of late leader Kim Il-sung, and demanded the cutoff of the inter-Korean railway Gyeongui line, a project from the era of Kim Jong-il.