The south Korean chief executive worked hard to mislead public opinion, blustering that the issue should be resolved, away from "politics and ideology," and the north should come out for dialogue with "open heart" and creating impression that the north was to blame for having failed to arrange the above-said reunion.

Rodong Sinmun Monday observes in a commentary in this regard: The south Korean authorities are going busy with wordplays intended to twist the nature of the situation, hoodwink public opinion and deliberately create impression favoring them. Such rhetoric will never help them evade their responsibility for having laid artificial obstacles in the way of reunion of divided families and relatives and blocked dialogue and cooperation.

The said reunion is a very important humanitarian undertaking for the Koreans artificially divided by foreign forces.

Frankly speaking, it is a practice for warring parties to cease engagement when a humanitarian issue is raised even in a war time. However, the south Korean regime is making even the humanitarian cooperation a victim of their confrontation policy.

They are talkative about "dialogue" but, on the other hand, they announced that they would stage joint military exercises with the U.S. as scheduled.

We would like to ask the south Korean authorities if they think a humanitarian undertaking can go with saber-rattling and if the joint military drills to do harm to the fellow countrymen are more important than dialogue, cooperation and humanitarian work.

If the south Korean regime is truly concerned for the reunion of divided families and relatives, it should make a bold decision to clear such stumbling blocks as the "May 24 steps" and the war drills targeting the north.