North Korea has sent faxed messages to 13 South Korean civic and religious organizations in recent weeks to criticize South Korea's alleged insult to the North's dignity, an official said Tuesday.

The messages came in response to South Korea's accusation that the North wasted millions of dollars on celebrating the centennial of the April 15 birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.

South Korea has said the North should have used the money to buy much-needed food for its 24 million people.

Some South Koreans have recently held anti-Pyongyang events in Seoul.

One of the messages claimed that Seoul's insult to the North is a provocation by conservative forces to win the presidential election in December, according to the official who is familiar with the issue.

President Lee Myung-bak's single five-year term ends early next year and by law, he cannot seek re-election. North Korea has repeatedly condemned Lee as a traitor and called for his ouster in an apparent protest of his hard-line policy toward Pyongyang.

The latest faxed messages came as Pyongyang has threatened to launch special military actions to reduce Seoul to ashes in minutes over Seoul's defamation of the North's leader.(Yonhap)