Pyongyang considers Seoul to be its “most harmful and unchangeable enemy,” the leader has said
Pyongyang must be prepared to seize South Korean territory in the event of an “emergency,” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said.
In a speech marking the 76th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean Army on Friday, Kim praised the military for “firmly protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the country” from “imperialist military threats, blackmail, and the risk of war.”
[Kim] said his country has “summarized the history of our people’s division and confrontation and defined [South] Korean puppets as the most harmful and unchangeable enemy” of Pyongyang.
Against this backdrop, Kim stated that in the event of an “emergency,” North Korean policymakers had “made a national decision to occupy and pacify [South Korean] territory.”
Last month, Kim also called on the national parliament to label South Korea the “number one hostile country.”
[…]
Citing US officials, the New York Times reported in January that Washington is worried that North Korea could “take some form of lethal military action” against Seoul. The paper’s sources, however, doubted that Pyongyang would risk anything resembling a full-scale attack.
(non-archived link: https://www.rt.com/news/592193-north-korea-ready-occupy-south/ )
South Korea was a brutal right wing dictatorship until somewhat recently, so maybe their views are a bit different. They also have some pretty awful labor laws to this day, even by capitalist standards. I don’t know what they actually think about the DPRK though, but their experience with capitalism is not at all like the US or Ukraine.
Having talked to a few South Koreans who live or frequent the US, the general consensus I’ve gotten is that they think the conflict is caused by external countries trying to manipulate them (US, Japan, and China), and that if they were left to their own devices, they’d reunify in time. Of course, they also think North Koreans worship the Kims as gods.
This is a really small number of people I’ve talked to, I’ve talked to them in the US where I assume they spend most of their time, but it seems to align with the takes I’ve seen in South Korean media that’s critical about South Korea: disenchantment and even contempt for the ROK government and US occupation, but also a view that the DPRK is cultish and China is just another US. This is purely anecdotal, so take it with a heap of salt.