North Korea is ramping up a propaganda campaign targeting South Korean civic groups and companies to justify its deadly shelling attack on a border island last month, an official said Wednesday.
The North this month sent "a large number of fax messages" to religious and civic groups and companies doing business in the North, said Lee Jong-Joo, spokeswoman for Seoul's unification ministry which handles inter-Korean affairs.
The message blamed the South for provoking the deadly November 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong island and urged the groups and companies to launch anti-government campaigns, she told reporters.
"The message, since the first one was faxed on December 6, is still being sent to many trading companies," Lee said, without giving the number of recipients.
Chosun Ilbo newspaper said some 80 companies and civic groups have received the message from Pyongyang, which argues that blame for the shelling lies with a "provocative" military exercise by the South.
Pyongyang says it launched its bombardment after a live-fire artillery drill by marines on the island dropped shells into its maritime territory.
The North refuses to recognise the Yellow Sea border and claims the waters around the South's frontline islands as its own.
But despite earlier threats, the North did not stage a military retaliation for a similar live-fire drill Monday on the island.
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