Pyongyang demands resignation of South Korean minister.

PYONGYANG, December 1 (Itar-Tass) - Pyongyang demanded a resignation
of South Korean Unification Minister Hyon In-Thaek.
The North Korean leading newspaper Rodong Sinmun charged on Tuesday
the head of the South Korean ministry in charge of relations with North
Korea with attempts "to block the process of improving inter-Korean
relations by using the nuclear problem (in the Korean Peninsula)".
"Hyon In-thaek should bring apologies to the nation for the fact that
relations between the North and the South have resulted in the disastrous
crisis, and he should immediately leave his ministerial post," the
newspaper's observers claimed.
The head of the Seoul Unification Ministry stressed repeatedly that
favourable development of inter-Korean relations directly depends on
movements of the North to settle the nuclear problem in the Korean
Peninsula. This stance provoked Pyongyang's sharp dissatisfaction. "The
nuclear problem and relations between the North and the South are not
linked between themselves in any way," Rodong Sinmun contended.
According to Pyongyang's version, Seoul's decision to precondition the
development of inter-Korean economic projects with progress in nuclear
disarmament of the North is based on "a desire to strengthen sanctions
against the DPRK along with the alliance of foreign forces and to
strangulate the people's republic in this way".
The North Korean mass media had temporarily stopped criticism of the
South Korean leadership after a meeting between a group of North Korean
representatives and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul late
last August. However, when the South left unanswered a proposal of the
North on resuming trips by South Korean tourists to the Kumgag-san
Mountains, articles with sharp denunciation of the South Korean government'
s policies returned to the local press.
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