The warning came as military tensions on the divided Korean peninsula soared following a rare exchange of artillery fire Thursday that put the South Korean army on maximum alert.
"Our military and people are prepared to risk an all-out war not just to simply respond or retaliate, but to defend the system our people chose," North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the official KCNA news agency, according to the South's Yonhap news agency.
"The situation has reached the verge of war and can no longer be reversed."
Technically, the two Koreas have been at war for the past 65 years, as the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a cease-fire that was never ratified by a formal peace treaty.
Kim has given similarly bellicose orders in the past, most recently in 2013 when he declared "a state of war" with the South, although no clashes resulted.
Over the decades, South Koreans have become accustomed to the North's provocative and belligerent behavior, and there was no sense of public panic in Seoul despite the dire threats.
Kim chaired an emergency meeting late Thursday of the North's powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) which endorsed the ultimatum for the South to switch off its propaganda unit loudspeakers by Saturday afternoon or face military action.
South Korea's Defense Ministry insisted the loudspeakers would keep operating...
AFP
mme.int
21/8/15
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Related:
- China calls for stopping all activities leading to escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula and settling all the problems through negotiations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday.
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South Korea on high alert as North Korean attack deadline looms...
ReplyDeleteSouth Korean troops stood at maximum alert Saturday with North Korea threatening to go to war unless Seoul meets a looming deadline to halt loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the border.
The North Korean People’s Army (KPA) said late Friday that its front-line troops had moved into a “fully armed, wartime state” in line with the wishes of leader Kim Jong Un and ahead of Saturday’s 5 p.m. Pyongyang time deadline.
The international community has a long experience of North Korea’s particularly aggressive brand of diplomatic brinkmanship and, while there is concern over the potential for escalation, many see the situation as another exercise in attention-seeking by Pyongyang.
“Given their past negotiating style and tactics, the likelihood that they will follow through with their threat of a military action is low,” said James Kim, a research fellow at the Asan Institute think tank in Seoul.
At the same time, Kim acknowledged that second-guessing Pyongyang’s game plan was always risky, and the possibility of a North Korean strike of some sort could not be ruled out.
“If so, South Korea must have a firm, strong, and timely response to signal its resolve that it will not be intimidated. Anything less would be an invitation for further provocation,” he said.............japantimes.co.jp
22/8/15