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| ▲ This file image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run Korea Central Television on June 26, 2023, shows a rally staged by North Koreans and students in Pyongyang against the United States on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) N Korea-martial law
(LEAD) N. Korea's state media remains silent about martial law turmoil in S. Korea
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details from last 2 paras)
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state media on Thursday kept mum about President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of emergency martial law and its political repercussions.
Yoon abruptly declared martial law late Tuesday, accusing the opposition of paralyzing the government with "anti-state" activities. He lifted the decree hours after the National Assembly voted to reject it.
As of 9 a.m., none of the North's state media, including the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), had published any reports related to the martial law turmoil.
The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper targeting the domestic audience, also did not carry articles about South Korean protesters' anti-government rallies calling for Yoon's ouster in its Thursday edition. The paper has published such reports almost every day since late last month.
Experts said North Korea may try to use the martial law turmoil as a propaganda tool to arouse its people's animosity toward South Korea.
In March 2017, the KCNA and the state-run Korean Central Television swiftly reported the impeachment of then South Korean President Park Geun-hye, about two hours after the Constitutional Court upheld it.
In May 2004, when the court rejected the parliamentary impeachment of then President Roh Moo-hyun, the North's state media carried a related press statement, issued by the North's committee in charge of inter-Korean affairs, two days after the court ruling.
Seoul's unification ministry said North Korea did not always show sensitive responses to South Korea's grave political situations in the past, citing South Koreans holding candlelight vigils in 2016 and the developments leading to Park's impeachment.
"As North Korea has watched how South Korea's democracy has evolved dynamically, the North may be aware that it is not realistic and possible for Pyongyang to intervene in (the South's situation)," a ministry official told reporters over North Korea's silence about the martial law fallout.
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