DPRK warns of "painful" retaliation against South Korea as mutual trust fades

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un (R) are seen in a sedan in Pyongyang, the DPRK, Sept. 18, 2018.  (Xinhua/Pyongyang Press Corps)

Seoul's promise to stop "defectors" from sending balloons carrying leaflets to the North was so far only "lip service," and "its attitude of repentance is too timid, when compared with the gravity of the crime committed," said a DPRK official.

PYONGYANG, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Pyongyang late Friday threatened to take "regretful and painful" retaliation soon against Seoul as their mutual trust is "shattered" by the latter's failure to stop anti-Pyongyang leaflets from being sent into the North.

Pyongyang dismissed Seoul's promise to stop "defectors" from sending balloons carrying leaflets as "lip service", Jang Kum Chol, director of the United Front Department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Photo taken on Sept. 8, 2018 shows an avenue decorated with national flags in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). (Xinhua/Jiang Yaping)

"Their statement sounds like an apology or repentance, and their 'resolution to take counteraction' sounds plausible," Jang said. "But it is hard to clear the doubt that it can be just a brainstorm trick of Chongwadae (the presidential palace) to tide over the present crisis. Because its attitude of repentance is too timid, when compared with the gravity of the crime committed."

In response to the DPRK's strong protest, the South Korean government has promised to deal strictly with activists' flying of anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North and take legislative measures to ban the "hostile act" at the border area.

Officials from South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) unveil the joint liaison office in DPRK's border town of Kaesong, Sept. 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Joint Press Corps)

Jang said the South Korean authorities were so far only "paying lip service," and "they have availed themselves of every chance to unleash spurious words while reading others' faces with hesitation."

For the same reason, Pyongyang announced on Tuesday to cut off all inter-Korean communication lines. The joint liaison office set up in 2018 was shut down by the DPRK a few days earlier.  ■