The statement came a day after the nation ended 13 days of mourning for late leader Kim Jong-il, and proclaimed his son Jong-un as new supreme chief at a massive memorial ceremony.

The North will never have dealings “with the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors,” the NDC said, referring to the South’s conservative president.

“We will surely force the group of traitors to pay for its hideous crimes committed at the time of the great national misfortune,” it said, accusing Seoul’s government of insulting behavior during the mourning period for Kim.

Despite the bellicose language, analysts said the North was warning the world against any interference during the transition and that the chance of any provocation was low.

Yang Moo-jin, of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, told AFP that the North was demanding that Seoul quickly accept its new leadership. “Cross-border relations will remain icy for the time being. However, the possibility of military provocations by North Korea is low,” he said.

Inter-Korean relations have been frosty since Lee took office in February 2008 and linked major economic aid to nuclear disarmament.

Seoul’s response to Kim’s death was seen as conciliatory even by domestic political opponents. It expressed sympathies to the North’s people but not the regime and allowed South Koreans to send pre-approved condolence messages.

Seoul permitted only two private mourning delegations to visit Pyongyang and sent no government representative.

The North has repeatedly blasted the “inhuman” response by the South, and rapped Seoul’s decision to briefly order troops on alert after Kim’s death.