S. Korean president: Seoul holds no hostility towards Pyongyang

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday the country's responses to the death of Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), are meant to show Seoul holds no hostility towards Pyongyang. "Various measures we've taken so far have been intended to show that we are not hostile toward North Korea (DPRK)," Lee said during a meeting with ruling and opposition party leaders, according to senior presidential secretary Choe Guem-nak. South Korea's military has maintained the usual level of defense readiness status following Kim's death, Lee said, adding stability in the DPRK is "in the interest of neighboring countries. " The remarks came at a rare meeting involving interim ruling party leader Park Geun-hye, opposition co-representative Won He- young and Shim Dae-pyung, chairman of the right-wing minority Liberty Forward Party. The meeting was designed to encourage bipartisan responses to Kim's sudden death, as liberals and conservatives here are often sharply split on inter-Korean affairs. In a statement Tuesday, South Korea expressed sympathy to the people of the DPRK over their leaders' death, announced a day earlier. The country also refrained from provoking the DPRK by deciding not to raise the Watchcon surveillance status.It has also decided not to light up Christmas tree-shaped towers along the border, which the DPRK considers a form of " psychological warfare".