The Marmot’s Hole

We might not have Roh Moo-hyun to kick around anymore, but one of the fringe benefits of the end of left-wing rule in South Korea is we get to listen to entertaining North Korean rants again:

North Korea slammed Tuesday South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for the first time since he took office in February, warning the hardline Lee administration will have to face “irrevocable catastrophic consequences” from inter-Korean confrontation.

The denunciation follows the North’s threats last week to turn South Korea into ashes if the South tries to launch a pre-emptive attack on the North, and delay disablement of its nuclear facilities over the dispute on the North’s alleged uranium-based nuclear program.

For those brushing up on their North Koreanese, the actual statement was “The South Korean authorities will earn only destruction through anti-North Korean confrontation,” with “destruction” being pamyeol.

Ye Olde Rodong also said a “perilous path of thorns” lies ahead in North-South relations, and it would have an affect on the circumstances surrounding [the Korean Peninsula].

Even more interesting, the Rodong called President Lee Myung-bak out by name, referring to him as “Lee Myung-bak yeokdo” (”Traitor” or “Rebel” Lee Myung-bak).

This is why nobody should ever feel bad about US leaders calling Kim Jong-il names.

Anyway, Cheong Wa Dae said it was trying to figure out North Korea’s intention in directly insulting the popularly elected leader of South Korea.

UPDATE: My bad — the actual line cited in the KT piece was, “The Lee Myung-bak administration will bear complete responsibility for freezing intra-Korean relations and creating an irreversibly catastrophic situation, owing to their flunkyist pro-American anti-North confrontational schemes.”

That’s a great turn of phrase.

Interestingly, the Rodong also took cited the Lee administration’s “Denuclearization and Openess 3000″ policy, calling it “reactionary pragmatism.” In particular, it said Lee was trying to degrade intra-Korean relations into some a “trinket of practical diplomacy,” and that predicating intra-Korean relations on North Korea completely abandoning its nuclear program and opening up was “extremely absurd.”