North Korea slammed Tuesday South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for the first time since he took
office in February, warning the hardline Lee administration will have to face "irrevocable catastrophic consequences" from inter-Korean confrontation.
The denunciation follows the North's threats last week to turn South Korea into ashes if the South tries to launch a pre-emptive attack on the North, and delay disablement of its nuclear facilities over the dispute on the North's alleged uranium-based nuclear program.
It also comes amid reports that Pyongyang is trying to influence South Korea's general elections on April 9 where Lee's conservative Grand National Party is set to win a majority according to recent public surveys.
The Rodong Shinmun, organ of the North Korean Workers' Party, also called him "a sycophant towards the United States" and "anti-North confrontation advocator" in a lengthy article by an unnamed commentator.
Lee, who took office on Feb. 25, is the first conservative South Korean president in a decade. He has taken a tougher line toward Pyongyang, vowing to improve the alliance with Washington and link aid to progress in the international efforts to resolve the dispute over North Korea's nuclear programs. The North, however, had refrained from officially criticizing him.
"The Lee Myung-bak regime of the Grand National Party that emerged in South Korea recently is becoming undisguised in its sycophancy towards the U.S. and confrontation with the DPRK blatantly swimming against the trend of the era of independent reunification," said the article carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
"Lee's seizure of power created a thorn bush in the way of the inter-Korean relations and this cannot but have an adverse impact on the situation in and around the Korean Peninsula," the article said.
It said the North will "have no option but to change its approach toward the South" if "traitor Lee Myung-bak" opts for inter-Korean confrontation, ignoring the 2000 and 2007 summit agreements for peace and cooperation.
"The Lee regime will be held fully accountable for the irrevocable catastrophic consequences to be entailed by the freezing of the inter-Korean relations and the disturbance of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," it stressed. (Yonhap)