The unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs on Thursday denounced North Korea for attempting to divide South Korean society with threats and far-fetched criticisms ahead of the general elections in April.
The accusation came as North Korea has been ramping up verbal threats against Seoul, with leader Kim Jong-un saying there is no point in seeking reconciliation and unification with the South during a recent key party meeting.
On Tuesday, his powerful sister, Yo-jong, issued a statement lambasting President Yoon Suk Yeol’s New Year’s Day address that unveiled a plan to build a stronger deterrence system with the United States to better counter North Korean threats.
“From the year-end party plenary meeting to Kim Yo-jong’s statement, North Korea is attempting to create tension on the Korean Peninsula, and divide our society through threats and criticisms against us,” a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The official also accused North Korea’s main newspaper, Rodong
Sinmun, of either exaggerating or distorting facts in its coverage of South Korean rallies.
The newspaper included photos of a massive protest rally that occurred in September 2019 when reporting on a separate rally in September last year.
“North Korea’s false propaganda exercises and criticism of our government seem to stem from its own sense of crisis and anxiety that the current administration has sharply bolstered deterrence against nuclear threats and dealing with North Korea based on universal values and principle,” the official said.
The National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s spy agency, said last month that there is a high possibility that North Korea could carry out military provocations ahead of South Korea’s general elections slated for April 10.
North Korea has a track record of staging provocations before South Korea’s general elections.
In the months before South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April 2016, North Korea carried out a series of provocations, including a fourth nuclear
test in January and the launch of a long-range missile in February.
In 2020, North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles on four occasions in March alone, just weeks before South Koreans went to the polls to elect lawmakers in April.
Source: Yonhap News Agency