North Korea On South Korea Scandal: Pyongyang Reacts To Park Geun-Hye’s Impeachment

Days after a court ordered the removal of Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, its rival neighbor North Korea has come forward to praise the move. Park, who left the presidential Blue House on Sunday, could also face criminal charges following her impeachment over a corruption scandal.

A spokesman for North Korea's National Reconciliation Council told the state-run media that Park was an "incomprehensible and outrageous lunatic."

The official said in a statement on KCNA, North Korea's official state news agency, “This time Park was judged and punished by people, not by any specified force or political dissidents. ... This is a stern warning of history which proved that such matchless and heinous traitor will only meet ruin and death.”

The scathing piece was titled, “Traitors Are Bound to Meet Disgraceful Death.”

It also took a potshot at the United States and its allies, adopting a rather tough tone, “The U.S. and other riff-raffs who shielded human scum Park forsaken by the public will face the same fate as Park's sooner or later. This is a stern warning of the Koreans.”

Another critical piece Friday by Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper from the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, remarked, “The Park group is making last-ditch efforts to quell the mind-set of the participants in the candlelight actions in a bid to prolong its dirty remaining days.”

Park’s impeachment, the first for the South Korean nation, could shift the balance of power in favor of North Korea. Park’s establishment had worked with the United States in trying to counter North Korea’s nuclear threats. However, opposition leaders would apparently prefer to work more closely with the reclusive nation, and won't be too keen to get involved in a major confrontation, according to a New York Times report.

Tensions in the Korean Peninsula remain high, with North Korea testing four ballistic missiles last week. The tests were most likely in retaliation to the joint military drills that were conducted by the U.S. and South Korea. Under strict United Nations resolutions, the isolated country is not allowed to test any ballistic missile technology.

The nuclear threat from North Korea continues to be a cause of worry. According to experts, Pyongyang could develop a nuclear-armed ballistic missile within four to five years that could potentially target and destroy an American city, the Time magazine reported last week.