North-South Korean Tensions Rising

File photo shows North Korean soldiers (L) standing to attention while being watched by South Korean soldiers (R) at the truce village of Panmunjom. South Korea Monday kept its frontline troops on alert but vowed to respond calmly after North Korea's military threatened all-out confrontation with Seoul. (AFP/File/Kim Jae-Hwan)

South Korea's Lee Names Hardliner To North Post
--Yahoo News/AP

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday named as his unification minister an architect of his hardline policy on the communist North two days after the latest military threats by Pyongyang.

The North Korean threat to "wipe out" the South was largely dismissed by Lee's government as a repeat of past rhetoric, but analysts saw it as an attempt to grab the attention of Barack Obama just days before his is sworn in as U.S. president.

Hyun In-taek who takes over at the Unification Ministry, which deals with the communist neighbor, is a conservative scholar who helped Lee draw up the policy that demands Pyongyang drop its nuclear arms ambitions in return for South Korea's economic help.

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More News On North & South Korea

South Korea's President Sacks Finance Minister, Shuffles Cabinet -- Wall Street Journal
South Korea names new spy, police chiefs -- AFP
Hyun, Chief Architect of President's N. Korea Policy -- Korea Times
NKorean newspaper renews threats against SKorea -- AP
Tensions high on Korean Peninsular -- Radio Australia
South Korea raises military alert -- Al Jazeera
South Korea vows calm response to NKorean threats -- Yahoo News/AFP
US warns on North Korea nuclear intent -- Financial Times
North’s military may be taking a grip on power -- Joong And Daily
N.Korean War Threat Looks Like Gamble on U.S. Transition -- Chosun
Q+A: Why is North Korea firing off more rhetoric? -- Reuters
NKorea set to test Obama's resolve: analysts -- AFP
SCENARIOS - The North Korea problem awaiting Obama -- Reuters