North Korea mentions outcome of South Korea's latest general elections for 1st time

A person passes by the main building of Korea's ruling People Power Party (PPP) in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, April 12. Yonhap

North Korea's state media reported Tuesday that South Korea's ruling People Power Party (PPP) suffered a crushing defeat in last week's parliamentary elections, commenting on the election outcome for the first time about a week after the polls.

In Wednesday's general elections, the opposition bloc, led by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, secured 192 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, while the PPP only managed to secure 108 seats, an outcome that could render President Yoon Suk Yeol a lame duck for the remaining three years in office.

In a report on an anti-government rally in the South, the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's main newspaper, said the South Korean public staged a struggle to impeach Yoon after delivering a "crushing defeat" to the PPP in the parliamentary elections.

"This is a stern judgment by the people against the Yoon Suk Yeol group of puppets," the paper said, citing a participant in the rally.

But it did not unveil other details, such as the number of parliamentary seats that the rival parties each earned in the elections.

As for South Korea's 2016 general elections, North Korea's state media carried related reports right after the vote counts were completed. But it kept silent about the outcome of the South's parliamentary elections in 2020.

Earlier this month, Seoul's unification ministry warned against North Korea's attempt to meddle in the April 10 elections, citing an increase in the North's state media disparaging Yoon and seeking to sow division in the South. (Yonhap)