N. Korean official in charge of ties with South dies: Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un blamed South Korea Fri. for increased distrust in a New Yr speech in that addressed current heightened tension between the rival countries.

The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim called for increasing the isolated communist government’s “political and military might” in the new year, according to USA Today.

“But if invasive outsiders and provocateurs touch us even slightly, we will not be forgiving in the least and sternly answer with a merciless, holy war of justice”, Kim added.

Kim Yang-gon was the only person to accompany South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during the inter-Korean summit in October 2007, and he was also closely involved in the first inter-Korean summit between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il in June 2000.

“We are willing to have talks in an open-minded manner with anyone who wants peace and unification”, Kim said in a live broadcast monitored by South Korea’s Yonhap News.

The 30-minute televised address at midday local time showed Mr. Kim in his familiar black Mao suit, reading the speech for the first time with spectacles.

While North Korea’s road conditions are poor, the lack of detail helped feed speculation in South Korean media that the death was suspicious.

But the North remains a deeply impoverished country with a gross national income estimated at just 2.3 percent of the South’s.

Cooperation with Seoul could also provide a vital economic boost to North Korea, which is forced to operate under sanctions – including restrictions imposed specifically by the South. Andrei Lankov explained that it is unlikely that so many car-related deaths could be occurring as genuine “accidents” in North Korea, a country of few cars and tight security for officials.

“The threat of a nuclear or missile test now has impact in itself, so it appears that (North Korea) will prepare for a nuclear or missile test and watch for the opportune moment while maintaining ambiguity”, it said.

Choe’s reported banishment had been seen as the latest in a series of executions, purges and dismissals that Kim Jong Un has orchestrated in what outside analysts say was a further strengthening of his grip on power.

Recently, he attended a North Korean delegation to Seoul, where he defused a crisis triggered by the wounding of two South Korean soldiers in the demilitarised zone between the two neighbours.

The two sides should “make continued efforts to seek dialogue and not take any further steps backwards”, he said.

Like North Korean leaders over the decades, Kim pledged to develop Pyongyang’s struggling economy and raise living standards.