S Korea to urge N Korea not to intervene in presidential election

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and top security officials decided Wednesday to urge North Korea to halt any attempt to affect the South's presidential election and reaffirmed their pledge to strongly punish the North in case of provocations, Yonhap News Agency reported. "The government decided to urge North Korea to immediately halt attempts to intervene in our presidential election, which have been sharply increasing recently," presidential office said in a statement in Seoul after the security ministers' meeting, according to the report. Lee and the ministers also reaffirmed that the South's military will "strongly punish" the North in case of provocations while preparing thoroughly for any attempted provocations ahead of the election, it said. The security ministers' meeting took place amid heightened tensions around the Yellow Sea border between the two Koreas in the wake of numerous intrusions by North Korean fishing boats. Last week, the South's Navy fired warnings shots to repel North Korean vessels. Some analysts suspect the string of violations, along with other propaganda campaigns, could be part of an attempt by the North to raise tensions in order to cause social division in the South ahead of December's presidential election. In the past, Pyongyang used its propaganda outlets to attempt to influence elections in the South by criticizing or praising candidates, mainly over their stances on the North.