Friday, December 30, 2011

North Korea's new leaders lash out at South Korea and allies

North Korea sounded a bellicose note in its first communication with the outside world since the death of leader Kim Jong-il, saying its confrontational stance against South Korea would not change and labeling its opponents "foolish."

Since Kim Jong-il died on December 17, the outside world has been watching to see whether his son Kim Jong-un, aged in his 20s, would stick to its hardline "military first" policies that have seen the isolated nation move closer to nuclear weapons capacity.

"On this occasion, we solemnly declare with confidence that foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet forces in South Korea, should not expect any changes from us," a broadcaster on state television said on Friday.

She was reading a statement from the National Defense Commission, the top body in the militarized and impoverished state under Kim Jong-il.

In a break from the black mourning clothing worn since Kim Jong-il's death, the broadcaster wore dark red clothes and almost shouted her defiant message.

North Korea has a long history of using bellicose phrases against the South, especially since the conservative government of Lee Myung-bak took office in 2008 and ended a policy of engagement with the North.

It has threatened to turn the South's capital Seoul into a "sea of fire" on numerous occasions and repeated that rhetoric again on Friday.

"We will never engage with the Lee Myung-bak administration," said the announcer.

"The sea of bloody tears from our military and people will follow the puppet regime until the end. The tears will turn into a sea of revengeful fire that burns everything."

In 2010, the North launched an artillery barrage that killed South Korean civilians for the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953. It was blamed for sinking a South Korean warship earlier that year, although it denies it did.

Little is known of Kim Jong-un, who had been groomed for government since 2009.

He has been dubbed "Supreme Commander" in North Korea and is expected to rule with the aid of key figures like his uncle Jang Song-thaek, at least in the early stages of the power transition.

"Expecting any change from the North on our part would be foolish," said Chung Young-tae, an analyst at the Korea Institute of National Unification in Seoul, a government think-tank.

South Korea's government did not formally respond to the comments from the North.