S. Korea says North likely to step up verbal attack

North Korea is likely to step up verbal attacks against the South in a bid to influence upcoming elections but chances of military provocation appear slim, officials said Wednesday.

Pyongyang said last week it would suspend its nuclear tests and uranium enrichment programme in return for US food aid but ties with Seoul are icy.

The communist state has threatened a "sacred war" against the South, labelling annual US-South Korea joint military drills a "silent declaration of war" and accusing the South of slandering and defaming its leaders.

"The North is likely to ramp up tirades against the South in order to influence next month`s parliamentary elections and the presidential poll (in December)," Yonhap news agency quoted a presidential Blue House official as saying.

Another government official, also quoted by Yonhap, said the chances of the North resorting to military action were slim.

It follows a warning last month from South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak that Pyongyang was trying to incite divisions within South Korea to influence the polls.

Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Dongguk University agreed the North was unlikely to translate verbal attacks into military action for fear that it would derail diplomatic efforts. 

"The North`s broadsides against the South are also aimed at rallying support for its new leader" Kim Jong-Un, who is young and inexperienced, he told AFP.

Cheong Seong-Chang of the Sejong Institute said, however, Jong-Un was "much more adventurist" than his father, urging the South to stay on its guard against possible military attacks.

The North has fiercely criticised Lee`s conservative government as "traitors" in the run-up to the elections.

Lee scrapped a "sunshine" policy of aid and engagement practised by previous centre-left governments. He linked major aid to nuclear disarmament, a stance that infuriated Pyongyang.

Source: ANTARA