(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-02 08:00

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday made its first mention of Republic of Korea's (ROK) new president since his December election, warning his call to get tough with Pyongyang would have "catastrophic" consequences.

In the past week DPRK has test-fired missiles, expelled ROK officials from a joint factory park in the North and threatened to reduce ROK to ashes in a show of anger at Lee and the South's ally, the United States.

DPRK called conservative Lee Myung-bak, who took office in February, a "political charlatan", an "absent-minded traitor" and a "US sycophant" in a commentary in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried by its KCNA news agency.

ROK's Yonhap news agency quoted a Lee aide as saying: "North Korea's mentioning of the name of South Korean head of state is not an appropriate attitude."

Lee's government has told its impoverished neighbor that if it wants more aid, it must improve human rights, abide by an international nuclear deal and start returning the more than 1,000 Southerners kidnapped or held since the 1950-53 Korean War.

"The Lee Myung-bak regime will be held totally responsible for ushering in a catastrophic incident by freezing DPRK relations and destroying peace and stability on the Korean peninsula through its pro-US, anti-DPRK confrontational attempts," the commentary said.

Unusually, the entire commentary was read on a special state television broadcast.

This was the first official mention of Lee's victory by the state media.

With its taunts, analysts said the North also might be trying to deflect blame from itself for a delay in implementing a deal with regional powers to scrap a nuclear arms program in exchange for aid and an end to its international ostracism.

DPRK failed to meet an end-of-2007 deadline in a six-country deal to release a complete accounting of its nuclear material and weaponry, as well as answer US suspicions of having a secret program to enrich uranium for weapons.

The international community hopes the deal will eventually lead to a complete nuclear disarming of the North.

Lee's government has said it would work closely with the United States and Japan, and its stance on DPRK puts ROK closer to its traditional allies in trying to exert pressure on the North to force change.

Lee has proposed an aid package for DPRK that would lift per-capita income from a few hundred dollars a year to $3,000, provided it abides by the six-way nuclear deal.

The North called Lee's plan "piffle" and said it "will be able to live as well as it wishes without any help from the South as it did in the past".