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| North Korea attacks South's 'prostitute' president after Barack Obama visit | North Korea attacks South's 'prostitute' president after Barack Obama visit |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| North Korea has launched a personal attack on the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, calling her a "crafty prostitute" in thrall to her "pimp" Barack Obama, as it said it was ready for "full-scale nuclear war". | North Korea has launched a personal attack on the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, calling her a "crafty prostitute" in thrall to her "pimp" Barack Obama, as it said it was ready for "full-scale nuclear war". |
| In an unusually strongly worded diatribe even by its own standards, North Korea lashed out at the relationship between a "master and its puppet" and said that Park would pay a "dear price". | |
| "Park Geun-hye's recent behaviour with Obama was like a mean, immature girl begging gangsters to beat up someone she does not like," said the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) on Sunday. | |
| "Or a crafty prostitute eagerly trying to frame someone by giving her body to a powerful pimp," it added, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). | "Or a crafty prostitute eagerly trying to frame someone by giving her body to a powerful pimp," it added, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). |
| KCNA's official English translation of the Korean-language dispatch offered "capricious whore" as its description of Park. | KCNA's official English translation of the Korean-language dispatch offered "capricious whore" as its description of Park. |
| The vitriol came the day after Obama wrapped up a two-day visit to South Korea, during which he called North Korea a "pariah state" whose isolation would deepen further if it pushed ahead with a fourth nuclear test. | |
| Recent satellite imagery has revealed heightened activity at North Korea's nuclear test site, and Park warned on Friday that Pyongyang was ready to stage another atomic test. | |
| Both presidents cautioned that defiance of international rules would mean harsher sanctions on the impoverished country, and urged China to discourage its wayward ally from a new provocation. | Both presidents cautioned that defiance of international rules would mean harsher sanctions on the impoverished country, and urged China to discourage its wayward ally from a new provocation. |
| The CPRK, the North's body tasked with handling cross-border affairs, criticised the pair's remarks as "intolerable insults" against its leadership. | The CPRK, the North's body tasked with handling cross-border affairs, criticised the pair's remarks as "intolerable insults" against its leadership. |
| "If Obama and Park Geun-hye believed that they could change our minds with such threats and blackmailing, they can't be more foolish," it said. | "If Obama and Park Geun-hye believed that they could change our minds with such threats and blackmailing, they can't be more foolish," it said. |
| "In particular, Park Geun-Hye continued to viciously take issue with our dignity, system and nuclear programmes," it said, characterising her remarks as "froth(ing) at the mouth". | "In particular, Park Geun-Hye continued to viciously take issue with our dignity, system and nuclear programmes," it said, characterising her remarks as "froth(ing) at the mouth". |
| "She thus laid bare her despicable true colours as a wicked sycophant and traitor, a dirty comfort woman for the US and despicable prostitute selling off the nation," the KCNA translation said. | "She thus laid bare her despicable true colours as a wicked sycophant and traitor, a dirty comfort woman for the US and despicable prostitute selling off the nation," the KCNA translation said. |
| The allegation that Park is a "comfort woman" – a euphemism for women enslaved to provide sex to Japanese soldiers during the second world war – will likely prove extremely controversial in South Korea, where it remains a hot topic in relations with Tokyo. | |
| The CPRK also denounced Obama, whose visit was "utterly indifferent to the sorrow" felt in South Korea over the sinking of a ferry full of schoolchildren. | |
| "Had Obama even an iota of ethics and morality, he should have postponed or shelved his trip," the KCNA translation said. | "Had Obama even an iota of ethics and morality, he should have postponed or shelved his trip," the KCNA translation said. |
| "The latest visit by Obama only reaffirmed our long-held belief that might, not words, are the only option to deal with the old enemy US and strengthened our resolve and determination to stick with our policy to fight a full-scale nuclear war. | |
| "Park Geun-hye will pay a dear price for abandoning the opportunity we earlier gave and choosing a path of anti-unification and anti-peace and a path to confrontation and war." | "Park Geun-hye will pay a dear price for abandoning the opportunity we earlier gave and choosing a path of anti-unification and anti-peace and a path to confrontation and war." |
| The latest invective follows months of increasingly colourful personal attacks on Park. Her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, was also the target of highly personal criticism by North Korea's state media, but the attacks on Park have been notable for their repeated allusions to her sex – she is Seoul's first female president. | |
| Pyongyang earlier likened her to a "peasant woman babbling to herself in the corner of her room" and derided her as a "low-quality politician" who talks "nonsense gibberish". | Pyongyang earlier likened her to a "peasant woman babbling to herself in the corner of her room" and derided her as a "low-quality politician" who talks "nonsense gibberish". |
| Since assuming office in February 2013, Park has repeatedly spoken of her desire to build trust with Pyongyang while remaining firm in the face of any provocation. | Since assuming office in February 2013, Park has repeatedly spoken of her desire to build trust with Pyongyang while remaining firm in the face of any provocation. |
| The policy has not gone down well in Pyongyang, which has angrily rejected her proposal to prepare for unification as an attempt to absorb North Korea into the South. |