N. Korea continues attempts to thwart conservatives in S. Korean presidential election

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday lambasted South Korea's conservative forces in yet another attempt to stop them from taking power in the South's upcoming presidential election, calling the debate of a security crisis caused by the North Korea's nuclear and missile threats "a maneuver of conservatives to take the helm of the country again."

Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary that the conservative parties' attempt to take power again is a desperate stage as they are trying to spread what they call "a security crisis" to win the May 9 election.

Labeling the conservative Liberty Korea Party and the minor conservative Bareun Party "vicious conservative cliques," the paper claimed that the parties which held up policies of anti-reunification are responsible for the current state of inter-Korean relations at the lowest ebb.

It also said the South Korean public will not tolerate the conservative parties' rash actions and the downfall of old forces is an inevitable consequence of history.

North Korea has attacked conservative political parties and their presidential candidates in an apparent bid to sway voter sentiment in favor of liberals.

Conservative administrations in the South have typically pursued hard-line policies to press Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program but liberal governments have largely advocated for more engagement with the reclusive state.

On Saturday, Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda website targeting South Koreans, claimed "the conservatives were making a commotion frantically by making the North's possible provocations against the South an issue in the election and diverting the attention of the public to the influence of North Korea in South Korean polices so that the public's resolve to punish the conservative regime is weakened."

In a commentary, Rodong Sinmun on Friday criticized the liberal Democratic Party and the center-left People's Party for "turning their face away from the worst situation on the Korean Peninsula, caused by the madness of the United States and the conservative forces to attack the North, and raising the need of an alliance with the U.S. and security against the North."

The North's intervention in the election, as shown in a series of propaganda by its official media, is interpreted as an action to be cautious about the extension of hard-line policies taken by the conservative administration of ousted leader Park Geun-hye.

namsh@yna.co.kr
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