N. Korea Leader Denounces Reformers

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Monday denounced economic and democratic reformers as traitors, in an attack that could signal a policy shift or an impending purge in the hard-line Communist state.

Kim’s unusual public statement followed a report last week by a U.S. defense official that North Korea is forcing thousands of people to attend mass executions in an apparent attempt to quash dissent as the country heads into potential famine this winter.

Kim urged his people to stick to the policy of his father, Kim Il Sung, a Stalinist Communist who ruled North Korea for 46 years until his death in July 1994.

Kim Jong Il published his policy “discourse” in the Communist Party newspaper Rodong Shinmun, Pyongyang’s official Korea Central News Agency reported.

“The traitors . . . claimed that they were carrying out reform and restructuring for democracy and economic welfare, disavowing the revolutionary idea of the working class,” Kim said.

North Korea’s propaganda-heavy media provide only a foggy view of the sealed-off society. Analysts watch carefully for subtle clues of policy switches.

Kim’s biggest challenge is to save North Korea’s dilapidated economy.

In opening North Korea’s first free-trade zone, Kim was seen as veering away from his father’s stringent philosophy of self-reliance.

But South Korean analysts have said that older Communist officials may be uneasy with young technocrats who push economic reform and more joint ventures with the West.