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SEOUL : North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has hailed his troops as "invincible" during a military inspection, official media announced on Sunday amid a war of words and growing tensions with South Korea.
Pyongyang in recent days has threatened to reduce the South to "ashes" and called its new conservative president, Lee Myung-Bak, a traitor, a US sycophant and a political charlatan.
On Sunday, the North's official Korean Central News Agncy said Kim had been pleased by an inspection of his soldiers, finding that they had "combat capacity enough to beat back the enemy's invasion at a single stroke."
"The People's Army has grown to be invincible," it quoted him as saying.
KCNA did not say when the inspection had taken place. He is often reported to give morale-boosting visits to his military units.
But the latest announcement comes at a time of sharply rising tensions between the two countries, which are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended only in a fragile armistice.
Analysts say Lee has angered the North by adopting a tougher stance on Pyongyang, including linking economic aid to the North's progress on nuclear disarmament and raising its widely criticised human rights record.
Lee's two liberal predecessors had practised a "sunshine" engagement policy, under which aid and investment worth billions of dollars flowed northwards and cross-border exchanges expanded hugely.
The flare-up began March 27, when the North kicked out South Korean officials from a joint industrial complex just north of the border. The next day, it test-fired missiles and accused Seoul of breaching the sea border.
The North then reacted furiously to remarks by Seoul's top military general hinting at a pre-emptive strike at the North's nuclear sites. Four days later, Pyongyang threatened to leave South Korea in "ashes."
South Korea has rejected Pyongyang's demand for an apology for the general's remarks. The North said Thursday it was suspending all inter-Korean dialogue and closing the border to Seoul officials.
- AFP/vm
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