North Korea lambasted the South's ruling party lawmaker Tuesday for his attempt to capitalize on last week's deadly sinking of a passenger ferry to create anti-Pyongyang moods.

Rep. Han Ki-ho of the ruling Saenuri Party has come under fire for his divisive Facebook post on Sunday at a time when the entire nation should focus on searching those missing after the ferry Sewol sank off South Korea's southwestern island of Jindo on Wednesday.

Pointing to the North's indirect criticism of Seoul for its mishandling of the tragedy, the lawmaker said the communist country "finally opened its month of propaganda" and claimed that leftist groups suspected of having links to the North "are to launch operations to topple the (Seoul) government."

"How vicious and nasty it is for him to try to bring absurd anti-North Korean waves instead of coming up with desirable rescue measures," the North's propaganda website Uriminjokkiri said in its commentary.

Calling his comments "the McCarthyism of the time," the North said the lawmaker "should behave while paying attention to searching for the missing children."

Pyongyang also criticized the South Korean government for its clumsy responses to the tragic case, citing an online article in Seoul that the government's announcement lost trust and hopes for its rescue operations were dashed.

As of Tuesday, 108 people were confirmed dead, and 194 remain missing. Of the 476 people aboard the 6,825-ton vessel, mostly high school students on a field trip to the southern resort island of Jeju, only 174 survived the disaster.  (Yonhap)