N. Korea warns of merciless response to Seoul's legislation of human rights bill

SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday vowed to retaliate "mercilessly" and "sternly" if South Korea passes a bill designed to help improve North Korea's dismal human rights conditions.
"If the puppet group enacts the criminal act, the army and the people of the DPRK will make a merciless and stern response, considering it as an official declaration of war against them and the second 'target case,'" the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a semi-official body overseeing inter-Korean relations, said in a report. DPRK is an acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"Target case" refers to the South Korean military's use of head-shot photos of the North's top leaders, Kim Jong-il and his son and successor-designate Kim Jong-un, as targets for shooting practice, which angered Pyongyang.
"The act is an anti-reunification and confrontation law aimed at sinister political purposes to slander and defile the socialist system of the DPRK and the dignity of its leadership and undermine it from within," said the report carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The remarks come as the South Korean government and the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) are pushing this month to endorse a bill that calls for assistance to improve the human rights record and humanitarian aid for North Koreans. The bill has been left untouched in the parliamentary judiciary committee since last year.
The endorsement of the bill, however, is facing hurdles as the main opposition Democratic Party recently said it will submit a separate bill that primarily focuses on humanitarian aid to the North. There are concerns that the GNP-sponsored bill could further sour inter-Korean relations, which plunged to their lowest level in decades following the North's two deadly attacks on the South last year.
North Korea has strongly protested against the South Korean bill. Last week, it threatened to sever all contact with South Korea if the South's parliament passes the bill.
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