Debris Threat
North Korea issues one against the South. VOA:
North Korea threatened military force against South Korea, Tuesday, a day after South Korean civic groups sent tens of thousands of leaflets into the North by balloon.
A commentary carried by North Korea’s official news agency warned of an “advanced pre-emptive strike of our own style” that “will reduce everything… to debris, not just setting it on fire.” That wording echoes threats from North Korea in previous years to turn the South Korean capital into a “sea of fire.”
North Korea has often denounced the administration of conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak as a “gang of traitors” - but Tuesday’s statement uses some of the most explicit military-themed language since Mr. Lee took office in January. The commentary warns North Korea’s attack would “turn out to be a just war… to build an independent reunified state.”
A day earlier, the North threatened to suspend a joint North-South industrial project, if Seoul did not prevent the ongoing launches of leaflets into the North by civic groups. That same day, human rights activists launched some 40,000 leaflets by helium balloon from waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
The leaflets are sharply critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and include information from recent reports that he may be recovering from a stroke.
AFP notes the NK military “described its pre-emptive capability as ‘beyond imagination, relying on striking means more powerful than a nuclear weapon.’” They must have a death ray or something. But as absurd as the rhetoric can be, there is really nothing funny about North Korea. AP, writing about an international forum underway in Seoul on the NK gulags, offers some graphic and statistical detail.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:04 am on Wednesday, October 29, 2008
2 Responses to “Debris Threat”
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October 29th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I wonder how the Chinese are taking all this war talk?
October 30th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
You’re right. North Korea is about as funny as a bullet in the back of the head. Although Trey Parker and Matt Stone *somehow* found a way to make Kim Jong Il seem hilarious anyway.