By Choi Sung-jin
North Korea’s state propaganda machine is attempting to interfere in parliamentary elections in South Korea, calling for voters to “punish” the incumbent administration.
“It is as clear as daylight that the South’s governing party, which has served as little more than the pawns of Park Geun-hye, would be punished in April’s parliamentary polls,” said Minju Chosun, the mouthpiece of the North’s cabinet, in its Tuesday issue.
On Sunday, the (North) Korean Central News Agency, reporting on the news conference by South Korea’s civic and social groups, called for voters to show their rage against the Park administration. “The political landscape in South Korea, where not a day passes without people watching partisan and factional bickering, reminds us of the old bureaucrats in the feudal Joseon Kingdom,” it said.
These North Korean media reports are designed to aggravate “South-South conflicts” and create political situations advantageous to the communist regime, experts here say.
“Whether the inter-Korean relationship was good or bad, the North has interfered with the South’s political calendars, directly or indirectly,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies. “Their moves are aimed at instigating splits between hawks and doves here and inducing Seoul to soften its policy toward Pyongyang by pointing out the policy mistakes and failures.”
If experience is any guide, the North has made similar attempts even when elections did not work in their favor, he said.