South Korea has a military unit trained to 'decapitate' Kim Jong-un in event of war with North

Neighbouring countries are still technically at war

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering his new year message in Pyongyang (Getty)

South Korea says it has established a military unit to “decapitate” Kim Jong-un and other senior Communist officials in the North in the event of war.

The special forces team, designed to paralyse North Korea's wartime command if a conflict erupts with the South, is being rushed through two years ahead of schedule amid heightened tensions on the peninsula.

Seoul’s defence ministry confirmed that the unit will be launched later this year.

It was originally planned to be ready by 2019.

Included in the South’s plans is a "Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation" system that would use special forces and cruise missiles to wipe out areas where North Korean leader Mr Kim and the rest of the country's decision-makers are located.

North and South Korea are still technically at war as they signed an armistice but not a treaty following the end of the Korean War in 1953.

The agreement created a two-mile-wide demilitarised zone – or DMZ – as a buffer between the borders of the two countries.

The US has said it believes North Korea is pressing ahead with the development of nuclear and ballistic missile technologies.

In a New Year’s Day address, Mr Kim said the North was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), raising the prospect of putting parts of the US within range of a strike.

The North Korean leader said: “We are in the final stages of test-launching the intercontinental ballistic missile.

“North Korea is a military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy.”

North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and a number of rocket test firings last year in an attempt to expand its nuclear weapons and missile program.

But Pyongyang has never successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

North Korea has its own ‘decapitation units’ set up to eliminate senior members of the South’s government and military.

Mr Kim said during a visit to one of the special operations units in November that they were ready to “stab the enemy hearts with sharp daggers and break their backs”.

Chang Yong-seok, a researcher at Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said the creation of "decapitation units" on both sides of the border was the result of an arms race.

He told South Korean news agency Yonhap: “North Korea seemed to be advertising its special military unit in response to (what it called Seoul and Washington's) move to hit the North's leadership.”