hankyoreh

Oct. 4.

By Choi Hyun-joon, staff reporter

North Korea denounced South Korean President Park Geun-hye by name in an Oct. 4 National Defense Commission (NDC) statement.

It was the first such denunciation since July 1 of this year. An official from the Ministry of Unification said on condition of anonymity that it appeared to be a “response to South Korea’s recent criticisms of the North Korean nuclear program.”

The statement from a spokesperson for the NDC policy bureau, published Friday morning by the Korean Central News Agency, said that “Park Geun-hye and her gang would be digging their own grave if they decided to conspire with outside forces in the name of ‘directing someone to change’ and indiscriminately tried to overturn [North Korea’s] system and dismantle our nuclear armaments.”

It also accused South Korea of “talking mannerless garbage about making us believe our mighty nuclear weapons and missiles are no longer of any use.”

The Ministry of Unification responded that afternoon with a statement from spokesperson Kim Eui-do saying, “sincere dismay that North Korea would criticize our head of state by name with such deplorable language.”

“In no other country in the world do you find denunciations of another’s leader in such harsh language,” it continued.

The language in question appears to be a response to Park’s recent criticisms of North Korea’s nuclear program. During a commemorative address on Oct. 1 for the 65th anniversary of the South Korean armed forces, she said the country “needs to build a strong deterrent against the North until it decides to put down the nukes and make the right choice for its own citizens and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

In another address on Sept. 30 for the 60th anniversary of the South Korea-US alliance, she said the two countries would “never accept North Korea possessing nuclear capabilities.”

The invective directed at Park was fairly harsh by North Korean standards. In the past, she had been referred to as the “mistress of the Blue House” and criticizing her “venomous swish of skirt.” This time around, the statement described her as a “puppet president” and said she and her “gang” were “no different from a group of ignorant reprobates.”

North Korea has denounced Park by name seven times since she took office, including the latest remarks. Its language suggests it is particularly sensitive to criticisms of its nuclear program.

An official at the Ministry of Unification noted the consistent themes in the criticisms.

“The first denunciation of President Park by name in an NDC statement on May 24 was in response to South Korea’s attitude toward [North Korea’s] ‘two-track’ approach of building its economy and its weapons program together,” the official said.

“And the last one in July 1 remarks by a spokesperson for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland also took issue with South Korea’s attitude on the two-track program.”

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