South Korea hits back at North’s prostitute slur to president

SEOUL

An inter-Korean war of words escalated Monday as the South said the North’s most recent criticism of its president was “unspeakable.”

North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea on Sunday described the South’s President Park Geun-hye as “a wicked sycophant and traitor, a dirty comfort woman for the U.S. and despicable prostitute selling off the nation.”

The statement also referred to U.S. President Barack Obama as Park’s “powerful pimp” following his visit to South Korean capital Seoul for talks with Park last Friday.

The two leaders used the opportunity to warn the North against conducting a fourth nuclear test, while Obama also condemned Japan’s wartime use of sex slaves - euphemistically known as ‘comfort women’ - including thousands from Korea.

On Monday, Seoul’s Unification Ministry issued a response to the North’s derision of the South Korean president, insisting "to issue unspeakable curses and foul words is an immoral act.”

Park became the South’s first female president upon her inauguration in February last year, amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula following a nuclear test and subsequent threats of military action by the North.

Last month, the North hinted it was ready to experiment with uranium for the first time, threatening to carry out a “new form of nuclear test.”

The divided countries remain technically at war as no peace treaty was signed at the end of the Korean War in 1953.

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