North Korea Threatens to Turn South Korean Island into "A Large Graveyard"
North Korea threatened major harm on a South Korean island Tuesday, adding to a flurry of suspicious activity that has some experts worried about the embattled regime in Pyongyang.
South Korean marines collected propaganda pamphlets that were carried across the border and distributed near their base on Baengnyeong Island, in the Yellow Sea. The pamphlets threatened bombings and other attacks, according to South Korean media report said Tuesday, with the marine base as one of the first targets of an "unprecedented" attack that would turn the island into a "a large graveyard."
Threats like this have died down from North Korea in recent months, but the country has been busy lately, what with the executing family members dissidents and wiping out history. Tuesday also marked the two-year anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death, so most of the country spent the day watching a ceremony in his honor and generally being respectful of his greatness. His sister, Kim Kyong Hui (whose husband, Jang Song Thaek, was just executed) was noticeably absent.
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Jang's execution and the unusual turmoil it has created has some experts and North Korean observers worried the country is gearing up for something, possibly something big, possibly another nuclear test. South Korea's defense minister, Cho Won-jin, a senior member of South Korea's parliamentary intelligence committee, on Tuesday warned that the North is preparing for a new test. (The last one occurred in February.) Last month, observers detected new activity via satellite imagery at a missile launch site in the country's north-east, that showed work accommodating larger rockets. Since a major defection runs the risk of questioning the infallibility of the state, it might take a big show of nationalism to bring everyone back in line.
While you're waiting, feel free to denounce your own friends and loved ones via this North Korean Press Release generator. (It's actually the work of Boing Boing.) It's the perfect way to tell your cursed scum of a brother-in-law that they are condemned to be erased by history.
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This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/12/north-korea-threatens-turn-south-korean-island-large-graveyard/356237/
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