North Korea has threatened to carry out “indiscriminate strikes” on South Korea unless Seoul halts anti-Pyongyang broadcasts along their heavily fortified border that were restarted as a retaliation measure for the recent attack.
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North Korea on Monday resumed a campaign of loudspeakers blasting propaganda across its border with South Korea, days after the South took a similar step in response to a landmine explosion in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).
“The army and people of the DPRK are no longer what they used to be in the past when they had to counter the US nukes with rifles”.
“The DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is the invincible power equipped with both the latest offensive and defensive means unknown to the world, including nuclear deterrence”, the spokesman said.
Hours before, the North had threatened to “retaliate against the U.S. with tremendous muscle” if it did not cancel the military exercises.
North Korea sees military exercises as a rehearsal for war against it.
Last Saturday both nations celebrated the 70th anniversary of the peninsula’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, and there had been hopes earlier this year that the event might offer the opportunity for some diplomatic fence-mending.
The annual Ulchi Freedom train, which the defence ministry stated would run via August 28, is essentially pc-simulated, however nonetheless includes 50,000 Korean and 3,000 US troopers.
But South Korea’s President Park Geun-huy told Pyongyang to “wake up” from the delusion it could maintain its government through provocation and threats that would only result in isolation and destruction. Park’s rationale was partly that the two major US allies in the region – South Korea and Japan -should be grouped in the same time zone to facilitate operational planning.
Meanwhile, another senior U.S. congressman will visit South Korea this week to share views on the alliance between the two countries and the North Korea issue, Seoul officials said.
The renewal of the border propaganda war may further escalate military tension between the two Koreas, which are already at odds over Seoul’s launch of a large-scale joint military drill with Washington earlier in the day.
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North Korea, which said Friday it uses land mines only for defense, said the allegation “makes no sense” and has denied involvement in the attack, according to The Associated Press.
