North Korea is a “failed” state that has followed an “obsolete” socialist model, conservative ROK presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl said on Monday, after his liberal opponent earlier rejected the premise of ideological competition between the Koreas.

Yoon of the main opposition People’s Power Party (PPP) faulted the Pyongyang leadership for setting a “wrong” socialist direction for the country, describing North Korea as the “archetype of a failed state.”

“The Republic of Korea, 70 years after [the Korean War] … became a global model state that succeeded in both industrialization and democratization, and is now one of the world’s top 10