North Korea blasts South's idea of unified system

SEOUL, June 29 (UPI) -- North Korea said any South Korea plans for a unified system would lead to war.

In an editorial in Pyongyang's state newspaper the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea said the two Koreas espouse remarkably different ideologies and systems, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

"South Korea's plan of a unified system between North and South would only lead to distrust and a showdown," Pyongyang said. "North and South Korea have been set in their different ideologies and systems for more than half a century...if one side insists on its ideology to the other, unwilling to give up its own, then a showdown is inevitable."

South Korean news outlet BBS reported North Korea also took aim at the current South Korea government and said Seoul is challenging the precepts of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration of 2000, which promoted peaceful means of bringing the two Koreas together.

Any challenge to the June 15 declaration, North Korea said, such as the pursuit of a unified system, would be an anti-Korea measure.

The agreement was signed when South Korea President Kim Dae-jung made a historical visit to Pyongyang in June 2000 and met with then-North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.

On Friday, Lee Hee-ho, the widow of the late South Korean president, announced plans to visit North Korea in July, in response to an invitation from North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea has said it seeks peaceful unification, but in March a member of a South Korean committee on inter-Korea unification said the group was considering a scenario in which unification occurs without Pyongyang's consent.

In that case, said Chung Chong-wook, the political systems would merge under Seoul.

The remarks were denounced in South Korea.

Lawyers for a Democratic Society, a leading South Korean group of activist lawyers, said any action to unify the Koreas by absorption would lead to a failure in the effort to rebuild North-South relations.