| Bet you never saw that coming... |
North Korea reacted angrily on Thursday to the South's policy goals regarding the communist country for next year. In a briefing to President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday, the Unification Ministry said it would shift its approach to North Korea in 2011 from cooperation and exchanges to preparing for reunification.
In an editorial on the propaganda website Uriminzokkiri, the North said, "The Unification Ministry of the puppet regime has mentioned that next year will mark the start of 'preparations for proper reunification.' This is a brazen announcement by the ruling conservative clique that it will act on its aspirations for reunification based on free democracy through machinations to destroy inter-Korean relations."
| Not at the level of the KCNA... |
It said the South's plan is reunification "by absorption" of the North and added, "It is no secret that reunification by absorption, which rejects the government of the other side and stresses the beliefs of only one side, will only lead to an armed clash."
A Unification Ministry official shrugged off the criticism. "We did not use the term 'reunification by absorption' in our briefing to the president, but our idea of reunification clearly aims at the establishment of a free and democratic system."
| And getting America to pay for it... |
The Unification Ministry proposed three goals as its 2011 objectives: prodding changes in North Korea, establishing "proper" inter-Korean relations, and preparing for reunification. |