It is regrettable that North Korea has again threatened to suspend all inter-Korean talks and attack South Korea. On Friday, the North's National Defense Commission, which is chaired by its leader Kim Jong-il, issued an unusually harsh criticism of Seoul's reported action plan to deal with any emergency situation in the communist state. The contingency plan has apparently angered the isolated North that has already been hit by famine, poverty, oppression and economic failure.
In a statement issued by a spokesman of the commission, the North has threatened to launch a ``sacred war" of retaliation to blow away the South Korean government, including the presidential office. Describing the action plan as Seoul's plot to bring a regime collapse to the North, the statement has also called for the dismantlement of the South's Ministry of National Unification and the National Intelligence Service.
In addition, the North has revealed its intention of halting all inter-Korean dialogue and excluding the South from the six-nation denuclearization talks and other negotiations to discuss how to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. It is difficult to think little of the threat because the world's last Stalinist country had never used such an expression as a ``sacred war" before. It was also the first time that the defense commission issued such a statement against the South since its establishment in 1998. The body holds the highest authority in the North.
On Thursday, South Korean media carried unconfirmed reports that the Seoul government drew the new action plan, code-named ``Recovery," late last year to cope with unpredictable consequences that may take place in the North. It allegedly included possible scenarios to handle Kim's sudden death, a military coup, popular revolts or other emergencies that may cause the collapse of the military regime. Such scenarios must have been a grave challenge to the North's leadership, which is engrossed in tightening its grip on power and ensuring a hereditary succession of power from the ailing Kim to his third son Jung-un.
It is not desirable for the North to overreact to the reports because it will only raise tensions on the peninsula at a time when Pyongyang was seemingly shifting from saber-rattling to productive dialogue. A few hours before issuing the statement, the North expressed its intention to accept 10,000 tons of corn offered in October by the South. On Thursday, it proposed holding working-level talks with Seoul officials to discuss ways of resuming the suspended Mt. Geumgang and Gaeseong tourism programs for South Koreans. On Monday, it also offered to hold talks on how to replace the Korean War armistice with a peace treaty.
We hope that the North's threat is just confined to symbolic rhetoric in order not to go back to its brinksmanship of launching long-range missiles and conducting a nuclear bomb test again. First of all, the North must keep having inter-Korean dialogue to move the peace process and reconciliation forward. It also should return to the six-party talks to implement its denuclearization commitments in return for security guarantees, diplomatic incentives and economic assistance from the international community.