Minju Joson Saturday observes in a signed commentary in this regard:

Ri let loose a spate of invectives slandering fellow countrymen and justifying south Korea's "policy toward the north." This was a sheer falsification of truth.

By nature, Ri Ki Thaek is a philistine with whom one can not communicate.

At the end of last year he talked rubbish about the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, ignorant of its essence. So the DPRK advised him to study it with honesty.

This advice was made not because it was unaware of the fact that he is treated as a "seasonal politician" and "human scum" even in the south Korean political circle, but because it took into consideration the fact that he once involved himself to a certain extent in the reunification movement calling for democracy against dictatorship. Had he had an iota of reason, he should have behaved with discretion, feeling thankful for the advice. But he is now responding to our advice with outbursts calling for "unification through absorption" and "itinerant lecture" inciting confrontation with fellow countrymen.

There is no knowing how such despicable act would please Lee Myung Bak but what is clear is that Ri will never be able to escape stern punishment by the nation for such behavior. The DPRK keeps strict tabs on all the crimes such riff-raffs as Ri committed by staging the anti-DPRK confrontational farce called "itinerant lecture."

The philistines such as Ri Ki Thaek will face a stern judgment by the nation if they further bedevil the inter-Korean relations by letting loose outbursts falsifying truth through similar lectures. They would be well advised to behave themselves, though belatedly, as regret will not mend matters.