N Korea hints at reform with new PM

SEOUL In the middle of an escalating military crisis on the Korean peninsula, North Korea's appointment this week of an economic reformer as its new premier struck a discordant, and possibly optimistic note.

The promotion of Pak Pong-Ju, 74, is notable not only for the fact that he has served as prime minister before, but also because he was sacked from the post in a backlash against the economic reforms he spearheaded.

His re-appointment is therefore being interpreted as a possible indication that North Korea's new, young leader Kim Jong-Un is serious about turning around the North's moribund economy.

When Kim's father, Kim Jong-Il, died in December 2011 he left a country in dire economic straits -- the result of a "military first" policy that fed an ambitious missile and nuclear programme at the expense of a malnourished population.

Some observers initially saw a glimmer of reformist hope in his Swiss-educated heir who, soon after he took over, made several public statements on the need to improve living standards.

Instead, Kim Jong-Un has followed his father's military lead, overseeing a long-range rocket launch and a third atomic test, and engaging in an intense bout of global brinkmanship that has included threatening the US with nuclear attack.

On Wednesday, the North showed the priority of military over economic strategy as it blocked access to South Koreans working in the Kaesong joint industrial complex -- a key hard currency earner for Pyongyang.

But analysts note that along with all the bellicose rhetoric, Kim has continued to stress the need for economic development, albeit with little or no details about how it might best be achieved.

Kim presided over a meeting Sunday of the ruling party's top leadership which formulated a "new strategic line" of simultaneous economic and nuclear weapons development.