North Korea has intensified propaganda for its people saying that the South is to blame for the collapse of this week's military talks, with state media repeatedly broadcasting a lengthy statement in what appears to be an attempt to solidify internal unity.
The North's military issued a four-page statement Thursday accusing the South of deliberately breaking down the two days of colonel-level meetings aimed at setting the agenda for higher-level defense talks, saying it does "not feel any need to deal with the group of traitors any longer."
The North's state TV and radio stations have since read the entire statement on the air repeatedly 11 times as of Friday morning. In addition, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency dispatched a series of commentaries blasting the South.
Such moves contrast with a largely soft tone that North Korean state media have taken on the South since early January when the regime started stepping up dialogue overtures toward the South in a move seen as aimed at winning aid to address its economic woes.
The state media's harsh tone this week is believed to be aimed at shifting the responsibility for the talks' collapse to the South while strengthening unity among the country's hunger-stricken population.
The military talks were the first time that the two sides have met since the North's deadly shelling of the South's border island of Yeonpyeong. South Korea officials say the talks ended in failure because the regime refused to acknowledge its responsibility for the March sinking of the South's warship Cheonan.
Officials said the North Korean negotiators abruptly turned harsh in their rhetoric on the second day of talks and then walked out of the meeting.