Around the World: Republic of Korea

Lee names hardliner

The Republic of Korea's (ROK) President Lee Myung-bak yesterday named as his unification minister an architect of his hardline policy on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea two days after the latest military threats by Pyongyang.

The DPRK threat to "wipe out" the ROK was largely dismissed by Lee's government as a repeat of past rhetoric, but analysts saw it as an attempt to grab the attention of Barack Obama just days before his is sworn in as US president.