Commenting on this, a news analyst of Minju Joson Tuesday observes that it is a blatant military provocation to the DPRK.

Recalling that at a "confirmation hearing" held last year this guy touted the "theory of a preemptive attack on a nuclear base in the north" before holding the post of chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the news analyst notes that he made bluffing, trumpeting about the said theory this time again.

This only laid bare his bellicose nature as a war maniac hell-bent on confrontation with fellow countrymen, the news analyst says, and continues:

Last year the inter-Korean relations were brought back to the relations of distrust and confrontation before the publication of the June 15 joint declaration because the south Korean conservative forces pursued confrontation with compatriots after their seizure of power, negating the inter-Korean declarations. Kim Thae Yong is known to have played a very bad role in this deplorable development.

What Kim uttered compels the public to express apprehension as to the future of the inter-Korean relations.

Kim could assume the post of minister of Defence as the "National Assembly" overlooked the above-said outbursts let loose by him.

Ri Sang Ui, when speaking at a "confirmation hearing" as chairman-designate of the joint chiefs of staff, cried out for "making a preemptive strike at the north's nuclear base" and raved that "he had a plan for a precise and rapid attack on it."

All facts go to prove that the ultra-right conservative forces of south Korea are pursuing confrontation with fellow countrymen, still obsessed by the idea of confrontation dating back to the era of the Cold War. There is no knowing when they will torpedo the process of the inter-Korean relations which have been put on the orbit of normalization with so much effort.

The inter-Korean relations can never be improved by the efforts of one party alone. The prospect of improving the inter-Korean relations entirely depends on the stand and attitude of the south side.