North Korea Denounces South`s Unification Minister

Earlier this month North Korea accused the South of driving the divided peninsula back into war.

North Korea on Sunday denounced South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's appointment of the architect of his hardline policy on the communist state as his minister dealing with Pyongyang, calling it "open provocation".

It was the latest in a series of recent rhetorical attacks on Lee and his administration by the North, which analysts say seems to be trying to grab the attention of new U.S. President Barack Obama.

Last week Lee named as his new unification minister conservative scholar Hyun In-taek, a major figure in developing his policy of demanding Pyongyang drops its nuclear arms ambitions in return for South Korean economic help.

"Hyun's nomination as minister of 'Unification' is an open provocation as it is little short of a declaration that south Korea would continue to stand in confrontation with the DPRK," said a commentary in the North's state-run Minju Joson newspaper.

"...no one can predict what catastrophic consequences will be entailed in the north-south relations," added the article, carried by North Korea's KCNA news agency.

North Korea is formally called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Earlier this month North Korea accused the South of driving the divided peninsula back into war.

But on Friday North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said the communist nation was committed to removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula and wants to co-exist peacefully. [ID:nPEK10481]

Relations between the two Koreas -- still technically at war -- have chilled sharply since conservative Lee took office early last year with a promise to end the free-flow of aid to the North unless it moved to end its nuclear weapons programme.