N. Korea warns of more frayed relations

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Relations between North and South Korea will continue to deteriorate unless South Korean President Lee Myung-bak changes his tone, Pyongyang warned Sunday.

In a statement published Sunday on a North Korean Web site, officials warned, "If the Lee Myung-bak government continues to push for its confrontational policy next year, the North-South relations will further deteriorate," Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported.

The North Korean Web site article described Seoul's refusal to honor summit deals as a "touchstone" in the deteriorating relations between the two nations, which include a reduction in border crossings and cutbacks on a joint industrial project.

Lee, who maintains the South will help the North only when the communist regime gives up its nuclear ambitions, has offered a sharp reversal from the "sunshine policy" of engaging North Korea that his two liberal predecessors advocated, Yonhap said.