South Korea's Defense Ministry called Wednesday on North Korea to halt its recent moves that have raised tensions on the divided peninsula.

In a fax message sent to the North Korean military, the ministry said the North should stop its criticism of Seoul that erupted after the South's top military officer last week said the country could strike suspected North Korean nuclear targets if there were signs of an imminent atomic attack.

The North has condemned the general's comments and warned it would turn the South to "ashes" in its own pre-emptive attack. The communist nation has also test-fired missiles and expelled South Korean officials from a shared industrial zone in a North Korean border city.

As the North's "slander and its moves to raise tensions would be never helpful to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, we urge (the North) to immediately halt these activities," the South Korean ministry said in its message to North Korea. "Our side is always prepared for dialogue for inter-Korean peace and reducing tensions."

The South's statement came a day after a North Korean newspaper commentator leveled a blistering personal assault on South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. A conservative who took office in February, Lee has taken a tougher line with the North than a previous decade of liberal South Korean presidents.

The North's main newspaper called Lee a "traitor" and blasted his pro-U.S. policies, warning of unspecified "catastrophic consequences" if the South failed to change course.

Lee's office has not yet directly responded that rhetorical attack, except to say that it was inappropriate to mention him by name.