The rogue state of North Korea is making headlines again for issuing threats, but this time of a more specific nature than their typical over-the-top, vague rhetoric. North Korea’s military interrupted state TV Monday with a special report, vowing to reduce areas of neighboring South Korea “to ashes” in less than four minutes. The threat comes amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, the recent ascension of Kim Jong Un to the dictatorship and the North’s latest failed missile test . North Korea Issues New, Specific Threats According to the AP, the scary statement from North Korea was unusual in promising something soon and in describing specific locations and periods of time. The North Korean military threatened to “reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes … (or) in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style.” Yeah. Real normal. South Korean officials responded, urging North Korea to end the threats. “We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice,” Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said, according to the Associated Press. The South Korean leader added, “We express deep concern that the North’s threats and accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions.” The April 13 launch of what the United States called a “disguised ballistic missile test” disintegrated just minutes after its launch, humiliating North Korea. South Korean officials say new satellite images show that North Korea has been digging a tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third atomic test. For months the North has castigated South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and the conservative administration for insulting their leadership and criticizing a new cruise, nuclear-armed missile capable of striking anywhere in the south. Meanwhile, in a meeting Sunday with a North Korean delegation in Beijing, China’s senior official on foreign policy praised the leadership shown by Kim Jong Un. How far he pushes the envelope remains to be seen, but he’s clearly put the world on notice that like his father Kim Jong Il, he’s not afraid of posturing.
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North Korea Threatens to Reduce Seoul to "Ashes" in 3-4 Minutes
