A group of social leaders in Seoul has called on North Korea to apologize for the recent comments of a visiting Pyongyang official, who warned that inter-Korean relations would rupture if the South's conservative opposition party wins next year's presidential election.

Just days before a visit to Gwangju, South Korea for an inter-Korean festival, An Kyong-ho, head of the North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland, warned that the Korean Peninsula would be engulfed in war if the Grand National Party comes to power next year.

The ten-member group of politicians, business figures and clergymen said in a Thursday statement that An's remark refutes the principle of non-intervention in domestic affairs and has jeopardized the spirit of the 2000 inter-Korean summit.

The Grand National Party on Tuesday urged the government to ban An from entering the country for the festival unless he apologizes. However, An was subsequently allowed into South Korea at the head of a 150-member North Korean delegation to the Gwawngju event marking the summit's sixth anniversary.

The opposition party won a vast majority of government and assembly posts in last month's local elections, raising the odds of a similar victory over the ruling Uri Party in next year's presidential poll.