Koreans Back Aid-for-Denuclearization Policy for NK

More than two-thirds of South Koreans said they support their government's policy linking economic aid to Pyongyang's denuclearization, according to a private poll Monday.

The poll, conducted by the Korea Economic Research Institute, found that 68.4 percent of the respondents said they were supportive of the aid-for-denuclearization policy by the government of President Lee Myung-bak, whereas 27.2 percent said they didn't support it, according to Yonhap News.

The poll, which has an error margin of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points, was based on telephone interviews with 800 adults in January.

Inter-Korean relations have deteriorated since the government of President Lee was inaugurated in February last year with a policy to get tough with North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test with a plutonium-based device in 2006.

In recent weeks, North Korea has stepped up its verbal attacks against South Korea, saying it will adopt an "all-out confrontational posture" and nullified a nonaggression pact and other accords with the South on easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

On Sunday, the North's state media leveled up its criticism against what it calls the South's confrontational policy, warning it "may lead to an uncontrollable and unavoidable military conflict and a war."