hankyoreh

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has visited a military unit, the North's state media reported Sunday, amid growing discontent with the new South Korean conservative government and rising tensions across the inter-Korean border.

Kim, also the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, routinely visits military units, but his latest inspection draws attention with its sensitive timing. Over the past week, Pyongyang unleashed a series of biting verbal attacks against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for the first time since his inauguration in late February.

Seoul experts have said the confrontation was led by the North Korean military.

"He expressed satisfaction over the fact that all the soldiers of the company have acquired high military technology and combat capacity enough to beat back the enemy's invasion at a single stroke," the Korean Central News Agency said in its English report of Kim's visit to the KPA Unit 350. The KCNA report, monitored in Seoul, was dated April 5 but dispatched on the 6th.

It's been about a month since Kim made his latest appearance to the public. Kim was last shown on International Women's day on March 8, when the North Korean media reported Kim watching artists' performances with female officials. He also visited the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang on March 1.

The report on Kim's public appearance came a day after North Korea repeated its name calling of Lee.

"All Koreans will have to step up their struggle against the anti-tribal and anti-unification scheme by Lee Myung-bak, the traitor," Uriminzokkiri, the North's official Website, said Saturday. North Korea also on Tuesday called Lee a "traitor" and a "U.S. sycophant."

North Korea has heaped criticism against the South over the past week in what experts say is an attempt to push the conservative South Korean president back to the reconciliation policies pursued by his two predecessors.

Lee has called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and improve its human rights situation while promising massive economic and humanitarian aid in return, in a shift from his liberal predecessors, who refrained from irking Pyongyang and promoted a "sunshine policy" of engagement.

SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap)