N. Korea says policy won't change under new leader

North Korea Friday ruled out policy changes and threatened retaliation against South Korea's government, a day after proclaiming the son of late leader Kim Jong-Il as its new supreme chief. "We solemnly and proudly declare, to foolish politicians in the world including South Korean puppets, that they should not expect any changes from us," the National Defence Commission (NDC) said. The North would "refuse forever to engage with traitor Lee Myung-Bak and his group", it said in a statement on the official news agency and state television, referring to the South's president. The NDC, the top decision-making body, castigated the South's response to Kim's death on December 17 and threatened unspecified retaliation. It criticised Seoul's ban on condolence visits to Pyongyang by most South Koreans, and a cross-border leaflet launch staged by defectors on Wednesday, the day of Kim's funeral. "We will make the Lee Myung-Bak traitor group pay till the end for the eternally unforgivable sins they committed on the occasion of the state funeral," the statement said. The TV highlighted that comment in a sub-title displayed under the announcer, which was repeated for about 10 minutes. Kim's son Jong-Un was declared "supreme leader of party and army and people" at a massive memorial service Thursday. "The world shall clearly see how the millions of our soldiers and people, who united firmly round great leader comrade Kim Jong-Un to transform sorrow into courage and tears into strength, will achieve the final victory," the statement said. The world has been watching for any signs of change under the untested new leader, aged in his late 20s. His father presided over a 1990s famine which killed hundreds of thousands, pursued a nuclear and missile programme which brought international sanctions and resisted Chinese pressure to reform the crumbling state-directed economy. Inter-Korean relations have been frosty since the conservative Lee took office in February 2008 and linked major economic aid to nuclear disarmament. Ties turned icy after Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing a warship in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives. The North denied involvement but shelled a South Korean island in November 2010, killing four people including civilians. "The scene of pan-national grieving by the people and ilitary... shows the party, military and people united round the revolutionary leadership with one mind, and the invincibility of our Socialist system and regime that cannot be toppled," the statement said. The South's Yonhap news agency said a statement issued in the name of the NDC, rather than attributed to an NDC spokesman, was rare. Thursday's memorial rally in Pyongyang, attended by tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, ended 13 days of mourning -- including a massive state funeral the previous day -- for the "Dear Leader". Analysts said the memorial event was designed as a show of confidence in Jong-Un. The event "is an expression of confidence that the transition of power to Kim Jong-Un has been done smoothly," Kim Keun-Sik, of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told AFP. "It was also used to shore up loyalty to Jong-Un, showing North Koreans and outsiders that he has cemented his status as new leader." China, the North's sole major ally and its economic prop, has expressed support for the new leader. US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell will visit China, South Korea and Japan next week to discuss developments after Kim's death and other issues. The US bases 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter the North.