N. Korea cranks up anti-Lee rhetoric ahead of elections

A soldier atop a tank takes part in a live-fire exercise by the Second Corps of the North Korean People’s Army in this photo released Monday. / Yonhap

By Kim Young-jin

North Korea has significantly dialed up its fiery rhetoric against the Lee Myung-bak administration in recent days in what appears to be its latest attempt to drive a wedge in South Korean politics ahead of crucial National Assembly elections.

Among other moves, the North on Monday included the Western port city of Incheon in its threat to turn Seoul in to a “sea of flames” amid a spate of threats to “mete out a merciless punishment” on the South.

"Be it Cheong Wa Dae or Incheon, we will immerse them all in a sea of fire and not let a single member of the group of traitors survive," Pyon In-son, the new head of the 4th Army Corps of the Korean People's Army, was quoted by state media as saying.

The threats came after reports here that a Southern unit based in Incheon had written defamatory words next to portraits of the North's leader Kim Jong-un and his late father, former leader Kim Jong-il. The junior Kim recently put border troops on high alert during a visit to the Demilitarized Zone.

The rhetoric appeared to be tactical as it comes at a crucial juncture for the North as Kim Jong-un consolidates his power and the South gears up for elections on April 11, which analysts say Pyongyang wants to influence in their favor. The polls are seen as a barometer for presidential elections in December.

“It’s the North’s traditional tactics,” Park Young-ho, an analyst with the Korea Institute for National Unification said. “It will try to show (its view) that Lee’s current policy has been a total failure and that the South should go in a 100 percent different direction.”

The sabre-rattling also coincided with ongoing joint military exercises here between Seoul and Washington that Pyongyang has long railed against for being a prelude to invasion. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature.

The North has long used its media to influence domestic politics. On Tuesday, the website of its official Rodong Sinmun ran several headlines referencing the administration such as “Lee group of traitors bound to meet miserable end,” and “Who is to be hanged first?”

The rhetoric raised eyebrows as it seemed to run counter with a cautious diplomatic warming following a nuclear agreement between Washington and Pyongyang, under which the North agreed to halt its uranium enrichment program at Yongbyon in exchange for food aid and other U.S. considerations.

Park said the escalated threats showed the North employing its tactic of seeking rapprochement with Washington while creating the impression that Seoul had been cut out of the loop.

Inter-Korean tension has been high between the sides since the Lee rolled back a decade of engagement and linked provision of aid to denuclearization steps by the North. With consensus emerging that the strict policy had factored into the North’s two deadly provocations in 2010, the administration began employing a more “flexible policy” aimed at easing tensions.

Observers said that with polls showing the South Korean public leaning towards cautiously engaging the North, it would be difficult to step back from the flexible stance, emboldening Pyongyang’s bombast.

Meanwhile the North’s media confirmed that Pyon In-son, vice minister of the People's Armed Forces, had replaced General Kim Kyok-sik as head of the 4th Army Corps, the border unit responsible for shelling Yeonpyeong Island in 2010. The attack killed 4 South Koreans.

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