The statement recalled that Lee appeared on Yonphyong Island on Oct. 18 where he blustered that "fishing boats should be allowed to sail further to the north beyond the northern limit line" and "any provocation should be retaliated against."

Such outbursts let loose by him at a time when there is a great danger of clash due to the "northern limit line" which has no legal ground are little short of crying out for a war, the statement said, and went on:

Lee's trip to the island was by no means accidental but a very carefully calibrated one.

All the conservative ruling quarters kicked off a "new north wind offensive" with all means involved. Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military exercises were staged at the end of August with an aim to mount a preemptive attack on the north. South Korean forces indiscriminately fired at civilian fishing boats in September. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff cried out for a "preemptive attack" in October and the Defense Ministry worked out a "standard teaching plan for action against the forces following north" and distributed it among units of the army.

The "government" authorities are mulling staging Hoguk exercises from Oct. 25 with more than 240 000 civilians, government employees and armed forces involved in the wake of their announcement of their operation to scatter anti-DPRK leaflets by mobilizing conservative organizations.

If the "government" and the "Saenuri Party" escalate inter-Korean confrontation prompted by their intention to stay in power, this will entail grave consequences, the statement warned, demanding Lee Myung Bak stop at once the actions for a war on the Korean Peninsula.