Pyongyang threatens Seoul with destruction
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) threatened the Republic of Korea (ROK) with destruction yesterday after Seoul's top military officer said his country would consider attacking the North if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack.
"Our military will not sit idle until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike," an unidentified military commentator said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "Everything will be in ashes, not just a sea of fire, once our advanced pre-emptive strike begins."
The remarks, also carried on state television, marked the third straight day of bellicose rhetoric from the DPRK, which is angry over the harsher line new ROK President Lee Myung-bak has taken against Pyongyang since assuming office last month.
Such tough talk from Pyongyang is not unusual during times of increased tensions. In 1994, a DPRK official threatened to turn Seoul, located just 50 km from the border, into a "sea of fire". The North has also used the expression in relation to threatened retaliation against US military bases.
The latest verbal salvo also came just two days before a scheduled visit to the ROK by the chief US negotiator in stalled Korean nuclear talks.
The ROK Defense Ministry reacted calmly. A senior military officer at the ministry said officials were working "to ensure the public would not worry about" the North's recent actions and statements. He declined to elaborate and asked not to be named.
On Friday the DPRK test-fired a barrage of ship-to-ship missiles into its western sea and warned that it would "mercilessly wipe out" any ROK warships that violate its waters near their disputed sea border.
On Saturday, the North warned that inter-Korean reconciliation could be in jeopardy unless Seoul apologizes for the military leader's comment. It said it would ban ROK officials from the country, without saying when the ban would begin or how long it would last.
Yesterday's statement also warned that the North would suspend all scheduled inter-Korean dialogue unless Seoul retracts the remark and apologizes.
Kim Tae-young, chairman of the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that the military would strike a suspected DPRK nuclear weapons site if Pyongyang attempted to attack the South with atomic bombs.
Kim's office said later he was talking about a general military principle dealing with outside threats - not about launching an unprovoked pre-emptive attack on the North.
The ROK Defense Ministry reiterated yesterday that it would decide whether to send a response to the North over its demand for a retraction in a few days.
Agencies
(China Daily 03/31/2008 page6)
