ID :
69280
Mon, 07/06/2009 - 14:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/69280
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea scorned S. Korean president 1,700 times this year: official
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea heaped scorn on South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak some 1,700 times until mid-June this year, a daily average of 9.9 times
and an increase from last year, a South Korean official said in a state-run
magazine on Monday.
The figures are a reflection of ties that have eroded since Lee took office in
Seoul in February last year with a vow to link cross-border rapprochement with
North Korean efforts to denuclearize.
North Korea, which remains technically at war with the South and conducted its
second nuclear test in May, has lashed out at Lee, accusing him of aligning with
U.S. hardliners to topple its regime.
"Some of the epithets North Korea used to refer to President Lee are so blatant
that I can't even quote them here," Lee Chan-ho, chief analyst of cross-border
ties at the Unification Ministry, said.
In his article written for the July edition of the National Defense Journal, Lee
said North Korea's official media denigrated the South Korean president a total
of 1,705 times until June 22 this year.
"What's worse is that North Korea is using indescribably abusive language to slam
the prime minister, foreign, defense and unification ministers as well," he said.
North Korea criticized the South Korean president an average 7.9 times last year,
Lee said. The total was 2,146 times.
Lee said Pyongyang has recently stepped up its rhetoric aimed at stirring anger
among South Koreans as their president suffers some of his lowest support ratings
ever amid social and economic woes.
"North Korea is toughening its efforts to instigate our people to join
anti-government struggles," he said, adding the communist state released 33
official statements containing criticism of South Korean leadership from the
beginning of May to June 22.
"The figure would be much higher if we combined the fire-breathing editorials in
various North Korean media, including the Rodong Sinmun" published by the ruling
Workers' Party, he said.
Lee said the rise in acerbity is partly attributable to the North's efforts to
unite its people.
"North Korea is forcing its people to step up their loyalty by exaggerating the
threat of its enemy, just as it manipulated danger from an enemy when it went
ahead with its nuclear test," he said.
"It is also aimed at pressing our government to change its stance by fueling
divisions in South Korean society," he said, calling it "an infringement on
sovereignty and a typical, divisive move."
Even though North Korea called previous South Korean leaders names in the past,
its denigration of the incumbent president in Seoul is the most frequent and
"sometimes downright silly," Lee said.
"This kind of North Korean behavior only aggravates inter-Korean ties that have
remained frozen since last year," he said.
South and North Korea fought the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce rather
than a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea heaped scorn on South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak some 1,700 times until mid-June this year, a daily average of 9.9 times
and an increase from last year, a South Korean official said in a state-run
magazine on Monday.
The figures are a reflection of ties that have eroded since Lee took office in
Seoul in February last year with a vow to link cross-border rapprochement with
North Korean efforts to denuclearize.
North Korea, which remains technically at war with the South and conducted its
second nuclear test in May, has lashed out at Lee, accusing him of aligning with
U.S. hardliners to topple its regime.
"Some of the epithets North Korea used to refer to President Lee are so blatant
that I can't even quote them here," Lee Chan-ho, chief analyst of cross-border
ties at the Unification Ministry, said.
In his article written for the July edition of the National Defense Journal, Lee
said North Korea's official media denigrated the South Korean president a total
of 1,705 times until June 22 this year.
"What's worse is that North Korea is using indescribably abusive language to slam
the prime minister, foreign, defense and unification ministers as well," he said.
North Korea criticized the South Korean president an average 7.9 times last year,
Lee said. The total was 2,146 times.
Lee said Pyongyang has recently stepped up its rhetoric aimed at stirring anger
among South Koreans as their president suffers some of his lowest support ratings
ever amid social and economic woes.
"North Korea is toughening its efforts to instigate our people to join
anti-government struggles," he said, adding the communist state released 33
official statements containing criticism of South Korean leadership from the
beginning of May to June 22.
"The figure would be much higher if we combined the fire-breathing editorials in
various North Korean media, including the Rodong Sinmun" published by the ruling
Workers' Party, he said.
Lee said the rise in acerbity is partly attributable to the North's efforts to
unite its people.
"North Korea is forcing its people to step up their loyalty by exaggerating the
threat of its enemy, just as it manipulated danger from an enemy when it went
ahead with its nuclear test," he said.
"It is also aimed at pressing our government to change its stance by fueling
divisions in South Korean society," he said, calling it "an infringement on
sovereignty and a typical, divisive move."
Even though North Korea called previous South Korean leaders names in the past,
its denigration of the incumbent president in Seoul is the most frequent and
"sometimes downright silly," Lee said.
"This kind of North Korean behavior only aggravates inter-Korean ties that have
remained frozen since last year," he said.
South and North Korea fought the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce rather
than a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
