国际英语新闻：DPRK denounces S. Korean policy on north-south relations

PYONGYANG, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday dismissed a speech by South Korea's president on north-south relations as continuing a confrontation policy, the official KCNA news agency reported.

The speech by Lee Myung-bak on Sunday was an "announcement to system confrontation" aimed at leading the situation to its "extreme," said a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea in a statement.

In Lee's speech, he preached "peaceful community" while drilling the military exercises almost everyday, advocated "economic community" after totally destroying inter-Korean cooperation and called for "national community" after negating the north-south joint declarations, the spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, Lee's real intention was to "evade the blame for the collapse of the inter-Korean relations," persistently "pursue confrontation policy" and "bring the present situation to an extreme phase."

South Korea's preaching of "dismantlement of nukes" as a precondition for mending the inter-Korean relations and achieving reunification was intended to force the DPRK to disarm itself, the spokesman said.

The spokesman warned, if South Korea continued its confrontation policy, the DPRK would "resolutely react to it."

Lee proposed on Sunday a three-stage reunification plan with the DPRK, in which Seoul and Pyongyang should build an inter-Korean "peace community" first to assure security and harmony on the Korean Peninsula, then work for an "economic community" for a comprehensive exchange and mutual prosperity. And after this, the two sides could establish a genuine "national community."