S. Korea Ex-Leader Tells North To Stop Lee Attacks

The North has been angered by a cut in aid that used to pour in from the wealthy South.

Ex-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, architect of a decade-old policy to bring the warring Koreas closer, on Thursday told the North its angry attacks on the conservative leader now in power in Seoul were going too far.

Relations across the heavily-armed border have turned icy since President Lee Myung-bak came to office almost a year ago on a promise to get tough on his communist neighbour after 10 years of efforts started by Kim's "sunshine policy" to try to coax Pyongyang's leadership out of its shell.

"North Korea should stop speaking ill of the South Korean government, especially President Lee Myung-bak," said Kim, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his attempts to end decades of enmity between the two Koreas, in a speech to the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club.

"The behaviour is self-contradicting and has gone too far," a frail but strong-voiced Kim, who turned 85 last week, said in rare public criticism of the North, whose leader Kim Jong-il he became the first South Korean leader to meet in 2000.

The communist North has all but frozen border crossings since December, calling Lee a "traitor to the nation" and blaming him for dragging relations to a dangerous low.

The North has been angered by a cut in aid that used to pour in from the wealthy South and has threatened to reduce its capitalist neighbour to ashes.

More recently, it has been incensed by leaflets being sent across the border that criticised Pyongyang and questioned the legitimacy of leader Kim Jong-il.

The former South Korean President said Lee can help reopen dialogue by making sure the leaflets stop and by pledging to honour two landmark agreements with the North signed before he came to power.

"Unless these two important declarations are respected, it will not be easy to resuscitate inter-Korean dialogue," Kim said.

Lee's government has questioned some of the massive projects called for by the declarations, agreed by Kim Dae-jung and his liberal successor as president, and said the North would only see aid and economic cooperation resume once Pyongyang ends its nuclear arms programme.

Kim's comments came as South Korean envoys began a rare visit to the North aimed at advancing sputtering nuclear disarmament talks, days after Pyongyang issued tough terms for ending its atomic plans.

"Negotiations are about talking also to people who you don't trust," Kim said of the North's credibility as a dialogue partner. "We need to negotiate with Chairman Kim Jong-il because we need to resolve the nuclear issue."

He predicted the relationship between the North and the United States would rapidly improve once President-elect Barack Obama takes office, saying he would continue the policy of engaging in direct dialogue with Pyongyang, Kim said.

"Chairman Kim Jong-il aspires to improve North Korea's relationship with the United State. I assure you that this is an indisputable fact."