North Korea threatens South Korea

PYONGYANG

New North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) presides over a national memorial service for his late father Kim Jong-il. AP photo

North Korea warned the world Dec. 30 there would be no softening of its position toward South Korea’s government after Kim Jong-il’s death as Pyongyang strengthened his son and heir’s authority with a new title: Great Leader.

We “solemnly declare with confidence that the South Korean puppets and foolish politicians around the world should not expect any change from the DPRK (North Korea),” said the National Defense Commission.

The top decision-making body said the country would never deal with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who stopped a no-strings-attached aid policy toward the North in 2008. “We will surely force the group of traitors to pay for its hideous crimes committed at the time of the great national misfortune,” it said, accusing Seoul’s government of insulting behavior during the mourning period for Kim. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart and they agreed to keep close ties in the coming months, Pentagon press secretary George Little said. Panetta and South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula, Little said in a statement sent out late Dec. 29. Kim Kwan-jin and Panetta believed that “peace and stability is priority, Little said.

Compiled from AP and AFP stories by the Daily News staff.