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N. Korea blasts S. Korea over canal project
SEOUL, March 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korean media heaped scorn Sunday on new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's plan to build a cross-country canal, a project that is being hotly debated here ahead of next month's parliamentary elections.
The unusual commentary by the Japan-based pro-Pyongyang Web site "Uriminjokkiri" comes as North Korea is stepping up its criticism of the conservative government in Seoul that took office in February with a vow to take a harder stance toward the communist North.
The 450-kilometer-long canal, which would link Seoul with Busan, South Korea's second largest city on the south coast, was one of Lee's major campaign pledges in the December presidential election.
Lee, a former Seoul mayor and Hyundai constructive chief, stresses that the canal will help reinvigorate South Korea's economy, while critics argue that it is economically unfeasible and will only wreak environmental havoc.
"It is no doubt an act of madness," the pro-North Korean Web site said, citing the March 29 edition of Tongil Shinbo, Pyongyang's weekly for overseas publicity of the communist country.
Arguing that Germany's network of inland waterways has proven economically infeasible, the Website said the South Korean version is unlikely to "serve a practical purpose and is only meant as a popularity-boosting scheme."
With the April 9 polls looming large, South Koreans are badly split over the canal project, which government officials reportedly plan to launch as early as April next year. Opposition candidates hope that the issue would help sway voters in their favor.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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