Stop the nonsensical threats

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Stop the nonsensical threats

North Korea’s threat of provocation against the South took a serious turn. Pyongyang has repeatedly vowed to attack South Korea as if its launch of the Unha-3 rocket was botched due to its southern counterpart. Following the People’s Army Supreme Headquarters’ April 18 statement that it could blow up everything in Seoul, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland made a similar statement on the same day. The North Korean government and Workers’ Party also lashed out in anger toward the South the next day, followed by a series of statements by other organizations under the recalcitrant regime.

The Korean Central News Agency - North Korea’s state mouthpiece - said that a special operation unit under the People’s Army will start its action soon. Those statements are crammed with derogatory remarks which can hardly be classified as ones made by state authorities. They are, in a nutshell, too infantile for our government to respond to.

At the same time, however, our government must pay heed to the North’s ever-coarser rhetoric, which borders on insults. Pyongyang went too far. After the failure to launch a purported intercontinental ballistic missile, the North-U.S. negotiation broke down and its “blood ally” China even warned North Korea. Deaths from starvation are also rapidly increasing and there are many signs that the military has a bigger say than ever before to the extent that military adventurism can be put into action. Pyongyang will most likely await an opportunity for another provocation as soon as it finds one.

Therefore, our government has been sending the North a strong message that it will embark on a massive retaliation if attacked by the North. To prove its stern will to counter Pyongyang’s potential assaults, our military has made public its deployment of various types of ballistic and cruise missiles which have long been kept secret, not to mention the top brass’ frequent visits to the front lines. Our military must detect any sign of provocation and neutralize it.

The North’s blunt proclamation of hostilities against the South is probably aimed at consolidating its internal solidarity and curbing people’s discontent from the botched missile launch which Pyongyang has long prepared for to celebrate the centennial birthday of Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong-un could have felt a need to calm the internal schism by ratcheting up tension with the South. Regardless, it is utterly indecent to hurl vulgar words every day at its southern brethren.
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