All Koreans and the international community are fully supporting and welcoming the historic New Year Address made by the respected Marshal Kim Jong Un and are unanimously wishing for a new phase for peace on the Korean Peninsula and its reunification through earlier improvement of the north-south ties.

The New Year Address reflects the consistent efforts and steadfast will of the DPRK and desire of all Koreans for the peaceful economic construction, improvement of the people's living standard, detente on the peninsula, the overhaul of the north-south ties and peace and reunification of the country.

But ill-boding developments quite contrary to this are being observed in south Korea.

From the outset of the year there heard from south Korea such reckless remarks of tarnishing the atmosphere for improving the north-south ties as "punishment" and "annihilation" and the three services of the puppet army and even marine corps are being hurled to powder-reeking north-targeted war drills.

Even such outpourings as "sincerity" and "double-dealing tactics" daring insult the good faith shown by the DPRK are being heard.

South Korea is responding to the DPRK's just call for rejecting outsiders and firmly maintaining the stand of By Our Nation Itself with strengthened collusion and increased cooperation with the U.S. over the nuclear issue of the DPRK. Seoul also answered Pyongyang's call for defending security and peace of the nation with bellicose remarks and provocative saber-rattling. It also challenged the DPRK's call for ending slanders against the other side to improve the bilateral ties with malignant slanders and calumnies. How can such response be understood?

This just indicates that south Korea has no will to improve the relations with the north but will keep to the path of confrontation and war this year, too.

The quite differing stands and attitudes shown by the north and the south in the new year prove who is a provoker plunging the north-south ties into deadlock and harassing peace.

Whatever rhetoric the black-hearted south Korean forces may let loose, no one will lend an ear to it.

The south Korean authorities should set right their confrontational stand and attitude if they want to say anything about the inter-Korean relations.

The improvement of the north-south ties can not be achieved by the efforts of one side only.

The prospect for the north-south ties entirely depends on the attitude of the south Korean authorities.