North Korea used its highest decision-making forum this week to deliver its clearest and most forceful message yet to Seoul: Pyongyang’s policy treating South Korea as a hostile state is permanent and not open for negotiation — and President Lee Jae Myung should take the hint. 

Leader Kim Jong Un declared on the final day of the Ninth Party Congress that ending compatriotic ties with South Korea is “not a temporary tactical measure but a historic option for defending our national interests and national prestige,” according to a report in the party daily Rodong Sinmun on Thursday