SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has reported the result of South Korea's presidential election in an unusually speedy manner, prompting predictions here that the North may seek to mend ties with the South under a new Seoul administration.

In a terse dispatch released by the (North) Korean Central News Agency late Thursday, the country said, "The Saenuri Party candidate was elected after a close race in the South's presidential election on Dec. 19, according to domestic and foreign news reports."

   The North's acknowledgment of the presidential election in the South, which the communist country is technically at war with, came just one day after the election and is in a stark comparison to its reactions shown after previous presidential elections in the South.