North Korea threatened to sever ties with the South on Thursday, saying if the Lee Myung-bak administration "keeps to the road of reckless confrontation" with North Korea, "defaming its dignity despite repeated warnings," it will compel the North to "make a drastic decision." The threat of a "total freeze of North-South relations" came in a commentary in the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, according to reports by the Korean Central Television Station and Radio Pyongyang.
Experts say past practice suggests Pyongyang could follow up with some action including a halt to business at the Kaesong Industrial Complex and other inter-Korean projects. On April 1 this year, a Rodong Sinmun article denounced Lee, then newly elected president, by name calling him a "traitor." Pyongyang proceeded to reject food aid from the South, ratcheting up tensions between the two sides. In working-level military talks on Oct. 2, the communist regime warned that it may halt a raft of inter-Korean projects, condemning distribution of propaganda leaflets against the regime by South Korean civic organizations.
"It is obvious that inter-Korean relations cannot be normalized as long as the South is governed by the extreme Right, which tramples on the June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration and the Oct. 4, 2007 Summit Declaration," the paper said. It enumerated South Korean measures proposed after reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is ailing, such as contingency plans for regime collapse, and Korea-U.S. joint military exercises. "Daring to offend our supreme dignity is tantamount to a direct challenge to our regime and a declaration of war," it added.
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun commented, "We can see no immediate action following the comment. The North appears to be indirectly expressing its complaints."
