N. Korea Urges Nuke Dialogue With Obama Gov`t

North Korea yesterday stepped up its criticism of the South Korean government and urged the South Korean people to launch anti-government struggles in a joint newspaper editorial.

The North, however, conveyed its willingness to engage in nuclear disarmament talks with the incoming U.S. administration and expressed hope for improved relations with the United States.

Under the title “Blowing Horns for a Concerted March, Let’s Usher in a New Year of Revolution,” the communist country’s three major newspapers branded the South Korean government and the ruling camp as “power brokers who have betrayed the nation.”

The dailies also called the Seoul government and the ruling party “anti-unification forces going counter to the time of independent unification while currying favor with the United States and being hostile to fellow Koreans.”

Pyongyang also blamed the Lee Myung-bak administration for aggravating inter-Korean relations.

The editorial also urged South Korea to implement the two joint declarations signed by President Lee`s two liberal predecessors and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in the 2000 and 2007 inter-Korean summits.

The North urged people in the South to intensify their struggle to “topple the conservative, non-patriotic and fascist regime and eliminate the risk of war.”

The joint editorial is the first by Pyongyang since the 2000 inter-Korean summit to denounce Seoul.

In contrast, the three dailies had friendlier messages for the United States and neighboring countries, saying “The validity of our republic’s independent foreign policy aimed at the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and securing peace and safety in Northeast Asia and the world is increasingly bearing fruit as time passes.”

Pyongyang mentioned “denuclearization” for the first time in its New Year’s editorial in 13 years. In 1996, it said it will seek “sweeping and complete abolition of nuclear weapons.”

The editorial, however, did not reproach Washington or demand the suspension of joint military drills by South Korea and the United States and the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in the South.

Declaring 2009 as the year of a new revolution, the communist country pledged to revive its economy by 2012 under a new economic initiative similar to the Chollima Movement of the 1950s.

Under Chollima, all North Koreans were mobilized for economic development.

In its New Year’s joint editorial issued last year, Pyongyang defined 2012 as the year to pave the way for a strong country. 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung and the 70th birthday of Kim Jong Il.

kyle@donga.com