This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/world/asia/lets-stop-all-the-insults-north-korea-says.html
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Let’s Cease the Insults, North Korea Says to South | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| SEOUL, South Korea — For years, North and South Korea have hurled invective at each other that would do Shakespearean characters proud. | SEOUL, South Korea — For years, North and South Korea have hurled invective at each other that would do Shakespearean characters proud. |
| The North’s insults usually follow an anti-imperialist line — “American puppets” is a favorite — though “traitors” and “running dogs” are also usual fare. And then there was the personal insult last year against Park Geun-hye, the South’s first female president, with a reference to the “venomous swish” of her skirt. | The North’s insults usually follow an anti-imperialist line — “American puppets” is a favorite — though “traitors” and “running dogs” are also usual fare. And then there was the personal insult last year against Park Geun-hye, the South’s first female president, with a reference to the “venomous swish” of her skirt. |
| The South’s oratory is usually less strident, but conservative activists have been known to pick up the slack, railing in public against the man many in North Korea see as a godlike figure, calling the young leader, Kim Jong-un, a diabolical tyrant, “a little pig” and “an immoral brat.” Then they burned him in effigy. | The South’s oratory is usually less strident, but conservative activists have been known to pick up the slack, railing in public against the man many in North Korea see as a godlike figure, calling the young leader, Kim Jong-un, a diabolical tyrant, “a little pig” and “an immoral brat.” Then they burned him in effigy. |
| Now, North Korea has made what it called an “important proposal,” suggesting on Thursday an end to the mudslinging as a way to smooth over relations that reached a low last year. The North also said it would begin unspecified steps to help ease military tensions along the disputed western sea border. | Now, North Korea has made what it called an “important proposal,” suggesting on Thursday an end to the mudslinging as a way to smooth over relations that reached a low last year. The North also said it would begin unspecified steps to help ease military tensions along the disputed western sea border. |
| But the North’s proposals were tied to another request that the South has already called an impossibility: the cancellation of United States-South Korea military exercises. The White House quickly rebuffed the request, and South Korean officials have said such regular exercises will continue so long as the nuclear-armed North poses a threat, a position reaffirmed on Friday by Kim Eui-do, a government spokesman. | But the North’s proposals were tied to another request that the South has already called an impossibility: the cancellation of United States-South Korea military exercises. The White House quickly rebuffed the request, and South Korean officials have said such regular exercises will continue so long as the nuclear-armed North poses a threat, a position reaffirmed on Friday by Kim Eui-do, a government spokesman. |
| “It is North Korea that has continued to slander us despite an earlier South-North agreement not to use slander,” Mr. Kim said. North Korea, he added, “should not just talk about trust but should show it by action.” | “It is North Korea that has continued to slander us despite an earlier South-North agreement not to use slander,” Mr. Kim said. North Korea, he added, “should not just talk about trust but should show it by action.” |
| The latest North Korean overture was notable for its timing, coming as each half of the divided peninsula appears to be trying to reach out again to the other, even if halfheartedly, and as the North seems to feel especially touchy over portrayals of its leader. | The latest North Korean overture was notable for its timing, coming as each half of the divided peninsula appears to be trying to reach out again to the other, even if halfheartedly, and as the North seems to feel especially touchy over portrayals of its leader. |
| Mr. Kim has taken a beating in the world news media in recent weeks after executing his uncle in what foreign intelligence officials saw as a power struggle. The North indicated that what it considered the South Korean news media’s poor treatment of Mr. Kim was one reason for rejecting an offer by Ms. Park last week to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War. | Mr. Kim has taken a beating in the world news media in recent weeks after executing his uncle in what foreign intelligence officials saw as a power struggle. The North indicated that what it considered the South Korean news media’s poor treatment of Mr. Kim was one reason for rejecting an offer by Ms. Park last week to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War. |
| The proposal by the North might also have been a reference to the balloons regularly launched into its territory by South Korea carrying messages denouncing North Korea’s leader. Anti-North activists in the South, many of them defectors, sent some across the border this week. | The proposal by the North might also have been a reference to the balloons regularly launched into its territory by South Korea carrying messages denouncing North Korea’s leader. Anti-North activists in the South, many of them defectors, sent some across the border this week. |
| The proposal for less belligerency is not a new one, and at least once it proved to be a winner. As part of an accord struck during their first summit meeting in 2000, the two Koreas declared a cease-fire in their propaganda war along the border. They dismantled billboards and switched off the batteries of loudspeakers along their 155-mile-long frontier. | The proposal for less belligerency is not a new one, and at least once it proved to be a winner. As part of an accord struck during their first summit meeting in 2000, the two Koreas declared a cease-fire in their propaganda war along the border. They dismantled billboards and switched off the batteries of loudspeakers along their 155-mile-long frontier. |
| Until then, shrill voices had drifted across the demilitarized zone day and night. Those from the North condemned a “U.S. colony” in the South. Those from the South talked of a “medieval fiefdom” in the North. South Korean Army veterans remember a female voice urging them to “Come to the Socialist paradise! It’s only five minutes on the run.” | Until then, shrill voices had drifted across the demilitarized zone day and night. Those from the North condemned a “U.S. colony” in the South. Those from the South talked of a “medieval fiefdom” in the North. South Korean Army veterans remember a female voice urging them to “Come to the Socialist paradise! It’s only five minutes on the run.” |
| The South bombarded North Korean soldiers with pop music and news about the booming South’s latest per capita income figures. South Korean announcers urged North Korean soldiers to think over why their leader at the time, Mr. Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, was portly while the rest of the population was starving. | The South bombarded North Korean soldiers with pop music and news about the booming South’s latest per capita income figures. South Korean announcers urged North Korean soldiers to think over why their leader at the time, Mr. Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, was portly while the rest of the population was starving. |
| But the South has remained wary of any new conciliatory gestures by the North. Just last year, Mr. Kim proposed better relations. Then he tested a nuclear weapon in defiance of the world. | But the South has remained wary of any new conciliatory gestures by the North. Just last year, Mr. Kim proposed better relations. Then he tested a nuclear weapon in defiance of the world. |