N. Korea blasts South Korean president on unification

SEOUL, June 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea blasted South Korean President Lee Myung-bak Friday, accusing him of provoking its regime by saying that unification of the Korean Peninsula can happen anytime so Seoul needs to prepare for such a development.
A spokesman for the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea said in a statement that Lee's remarks incited confrontation and challenged the dignity of the DPRK. or North Korea.
In a report by the North's Korean Central News Agency, the spokesman branded Lee's statement made earlier in the week as an unpardonable provocation to North Korea and an insult to its desire for reunification.
"Lee only seeks confrontation with his fellow countrymen and the collapse of the system in the DPRK," the KCNA report said, adding that the North Korean people and its military will impose a high price on the South Korean president and his followers.
During a meeting of the National Unification Advisory Council on Tuesday, Lee said it is hard to predict when unification would happen, but hinted that it could come unexpectedly sooner than later.
He said inter-Korean unification would come like "a thief in the middle of the night," and that Seoul needs to prepare for such an eventuality.