Posted on 04/23/2012 1:58:38 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
(2nd LD) N. Korea threatens to reduce S. Korean targets to ashes in minutes
SEOUL, April 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened Monday to launch special military actions to destroy key South Korean targets, further escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula following the North's botched rocket launch.
"The special actions of our revolutionary armed forces will start soon to meet the reckless challenge of the group of traitors," the North's military supreme command said in an English-language notice carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
"Once the above-said special actions kick off, they will reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes, in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style."
The notice and other North Korean statements described South Korean President Lee Myung-bak as a "rat," making personal attacks against the conservative president, who has pursued a hard-line policy toward Pyongyang.
The latest militaristic warning came in response to Lee's recent comments that Pyongyang claimed have hurt the dignity of the North's new leader Kim Jong-un.
Last week, Lee urged Kim to give up the collective farm system and privatize state-owned agricultural land to help enrich the North and its residents. Lee also called on the young North Korean leader to pay greater attention to the human rights and defector issues.
The notice said the North's targets include Lee and conservative South Korean media, though it did not elaborate on details of the North's possible attacks.
South Korea is within striking distance of North Korea's missiles. Seoul, the South Korean capital city of more than 10 million people, is also within range of North Korea's conventional artillery.
Also Monday, the North's Foreign Ministry warned in a separate report carried by the KCNA that North Koreans "are now eagerly waiting for the issue of an order so that they may mercilessly punish the traitor." "In case something happens on the peninsula now, the responsibility will entirely rest with traitor Lee," the North's statement warned, without elaborating.
The North has also recently vowed to stage a "sacred war" against South Korea and "blow up" Seoul for insulting its dignity over the rocket launch and the celebrations marking the centennial of the April 15 birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.
Lee said the North's failed rocket launch is estimated to have cost Pyongyang about US$850 million, the equivalent of buying 2.5 million tons of corn for North Koreans.
South Korea expressed deep concern that the North's threats and accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions. "We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice," said Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk.
The North has made similar military threats against the South over the past several months, although no actual attack has occurred.
South Korea has repeatedly vowed to powerfully retaliate against North Korea in the event of any provocation as a revenge for the North's two provocations in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers.
Presidential Office is to the north of Kwang-Hwa-Mun Plaza
Donga Ilbo, one of 3 major dailies, building is to its south.
KBS and MBC, two of 3 major TV network, are located in Yoido.
YTN is near Nam-Dae-Mun.
Interesting note: MBC is very much pro-North in its reporting. Local conservatives had written it off long time agao, deciding that it is beyond redemption. It is funny that NK is irate at the TV network. Maybe Pyongyang is upset that MBC is not measuring up to their expectation. I don't mind NK blowing up MBC building.:-)
Anyway, it is safe to stay away from three major locations just in case:
(1) Kwang-Hwa-Mun Plaza and its surrounding area
(2) Seoul City Plaza and its surrounding area
(3) Yoido Park and its surrounding area.
P!
North Korea's military Monday threatened "special actions" soon to turn parts of the South Korean capital to ashes, accusing Seoul's conservative government of defaming its leadership.
The North has for months been criticising the South's President Lee Myung-Bak in extreme terms and threatening "sacred war" over perceived insults.
There have been no incidents but the language has become increasingly vitriolic. Some analysts said they believe a military provocation is likely.
"The special actions of our revolutionary armed forces will start soon to meet the reckless challenge of the group of traitors," said a statement on the official news agency.
The North said its targets are "the Lee Myung-Bak group of traitors, the arch criminals, and the group of rat-like elements including conservative media destroying the mainstay of the fair public opinion".
It said the actions "will reduce all... to ashes in three or four minutes... by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style".
Tens of thousands rallied in Pyongyang last Friday, screaming hatred for Lee and calling for his death over alleged insults.
LOL! Do you think they did it of their own will? If they didn't, the government would be calling for THEIR deaths. I'm sure some may have been party officials and their families who may agree, but I doubt the majority do. In fact, I just read in the Daily NK that even the "privelaged" are having to hull their water up the steps of their apartment complexes as the tap water is not working.
(Snip)
One analyst said the North, unlike in the past, may well follow up its threats now that major anniversary events are over.
"The easiest option will be cyber terror... but we may have to guard against actual terrorist actions," Cheong Seong-Chang of South Korea's Sejong Institute think-tank, told AFP.
"This time, I think there's a high possibility that the North's words, unlike in the past, will actually lead to specific actions."
Baek Seung-Joo, of the South's Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said there had been "bad signs" across the border but did not elaborate.
"I'm worried about military provocations by North Korea," Baek told AFP.
http://news.yahoo.com/n-korean-army-vows-special-operation-against-south-045354844.html
Personally, I'm not so sure I believe anything is going to happen. The North loves to flap their gums, but they have never done anything big. They know we have nukes, and if they nuke Seoul, it wouldn't be good for them. They want to destroy the South, but they don't want to be destroyed in the process. Of course, Obama is in office, and I don't know if he would use them. That said, they have been escalating their vitriolic rhetoric lately, and they are run by a young madman who may be worse than his father and who is desperate to prove his toughness and capability to lead.
hull = haul
Like most first lick artists, NK could do considerable initial damage, but the retaliation would be devastating to them.
The SK of today would not be the easy walkover like the SK of 1950.
Possible DPRK cyberattack on those media or maybe even bomb (i.e.d.-style) or wmd of some sort—sarin, VX, who knows? Take/maintain countermeasures, OK?
“.......Of course, Obama is in office,......”
That right there is a contributing factor to their bravado, the pontification of the North Korean leadership. They see Obama as the weak leader that he is.
Why can’t we just kill these creatures and be done with it.
Reads like a script from a low budget sci-fi movie.
Well, who would feed them then?
A couple years ago, I saw protests by the South Koreans against the US. Do they dislike us or was that the MSM talking?
its unfortunate that Seoul is so close to the DMZ...had that population center been encouraged further south, alot of the threats would be meaningless...
It’ unfortunate that Truman was too much of a pussy to let MacArthur finish the job.
Korea ping.
Comments?
“Obama is in office, and I don’t know if he would use them.”
I think hussein would kiss the arse of mini me in the North if he could destroy a supporter of the West. Hussein won’t lift a finger to help the South.
It’ unfortunate that Truman was too much of a pussy to let MacArthur finish the job................................... He had no real choice, It would have been what MacArthur warned against, a land war in China. It would have escalated into WW III.
They sure have a way with words.
Seoul has been the capital of the Korean peninsula for over 600 years. There's no way the ROK wanted to give that up, despite the risk. South Koreans profoundly understand the risk, yet 25% of the entire population of the ROK have moved in over the past 50 yrs.
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