N. Korea condemns Lee for freezing inter-Korean ties

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Friday renewed its rhetorical offensive
against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, one day after releasing a South
Korean worker after more than four months of detention in what appeared to be a
reconciliatory gesture.

In a commentary issued one day ahead of the anniversary of Korea's independence
from Japanese rule, the Minju Joson, North Korea's Cabinet newspaper, slammed the
Lee administration for the current state of inter-Korean relations.
"Who is the one that has driven the North-South relations, which had moved along
the course of reconciliation and unification, to such condition? It is the Lee
Myung-bak cronies that have advocated confrontation as a state policy," the paper
said in the commentary carried by the North's Korea Central News Agency.
Inter-Korean relations have remained frozen since Lee took office last year with
a tougher stance on the North's nuclear program and withdrawing his liberal
predecessors' policy of unconditional aid.
Tensions heightened after North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25, which was
followed by a series of missile tests.
The paper said that the Lee government has denied the spirit of joint agreements
signed between leaders of both Koreas during the past two Seoul administrations.
It added that the South Korean government has tried to undermine North Korea's
"historical authority" within the international community.
In the midst of such hostility, Lee is expected to promise massive economic and
humanitarian assistance for North Korea if the communist nation abandons its
nuclear ambitions, according to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
The pledge will come in his speech slated for Saturday, marking the peninsula's
liberation from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule, the office said.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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