ROK's defense officer cautions over DPRK's strategy

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's top military officer on Thursday cautioned about possible good cop-bad cop strategy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, touching on the New Year's address made by the DPRK's top leader.

Seoul's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said the DPRK may conduct the carrot-and-stick strategy, which means Pyongyang could offer to hold dialogue with Seoul while having an ax to grind such as making provocations.

Kim made such remarks at a meeting with senior military officers earlier in the day, Defense Ministry Spokesman Kim Min-seok told a routine press briefing.

His comments came a day after DPRK leader Kim Jong-un said in a televised New Year's speech that Pyongyang will "create atmosphere to ameliorate the relations between the DPRK and South Korea".

Minister Kim said last month that Pyongyang will highly likely provoke between late January and early March this year following the purge and execution of Jang Song-thaek, once-powerful uncle of leader Kim Jong Un.

The South Korean military chief said that competition may become excessive among the DPRK military officers as they may seek to show their royalty to leader Kim Jong-un following Jang's execution.

"Given past cases, North Korea (DPRK) took a conciliatory stance when it had to overcome internal difficulties or improve internal situations. At that time, (the DPRK) offered to hold a dialogue and inter-Korean talks happened," Defense Ministry Spokesman Kim told reporters.

The spokesman, however, noted that the DPRK made provocations when its internal problems failed to be solved even after buying time during the inter-Korean dialogue, saying that it needs to wait and see whether the DPRK will carry out such two-track strategy of dialogue and provocation.

Regarding the DPRK leader's speech, Seoul's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told reporters that little room was found to interpret Kim's comments as an offer to hold any dialogue with South Korea.

Ryoo said the most outstanding feature of this year's address can be viewed as Kim's political rhetoric being not much strong, adding that Kim looked calm during his speech though what intention he had cannot be made sure.

Touching on Jang's execution, Ryoo said potential instabilities were expected to last within the DPRK from the objective perspective, but the minister noted that Pyongyang seemed to regain its stability at a fast pace after a sudden upheaval.