North Korea on Wednesday threatened military action against the Park Geun-hye administration, starting with Cheong Wa Dae, in an apparent attempt to spark national unity as well as warn South Korea and the U.S.
The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, entrusted with inter-Korean affairs, released a statement saying that the Kim Jong-un regime will launch a “retaliatory battle of justice in order to resolutely eliminate the Park Geun Hye group of traitors on this land and under this sky.”
Calling Monday’s joint air attack drills by Seoul-Washington a “thrice-cursed provocation” to its leadership, Pyongyang said that the supposed attack will start inside Cheong Wa Dae. It boasted that its new large-caliber multiple rocket system -- presumed to have a range of 200 kilometers -- will reduce the presidential office “to flames and ashes.”
Despite the strong rhetoric, local observers have said that the statement is aimed more at sending a message rather than being a prelude to any actual attack.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, pointed out that it is rare for the committee to release a report on military actions. Such statements are conventionally delivered by the North’s all powerful National Defense Commission or the military leadership.
“Content-wise, it (the report) just reiterates North Korea’s stance that puts its political system and the dignity of its leader above all. When you look at the big picture, you can see that it is a strong warning to the South not to mess with its system,” he said.
Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee speaks during a press briefing at Seoul Government Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Yonhap
The South Korean government has been taking a hard-line approach toward the North, with Park making an unwonted mention of the regime’s collapse in her speeches this year.
Yang said that the so-called “decapitation plan,” designed to strike directly at the Kim regime, and Park’s attitude might have motivated Pyongyang to demonstrate its will to raise the bar even higher.
The messages also aim to unite the people of North Korea ahead of its ruling Workers’ Party convention in May, he said.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it will issue a “strong warning” against the North’s statements, adding it will not tolerate threats against the leadership and people. It urged Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, holding it responsible for the inter-Korea tensions.
Tension in the peninsula has continued to escalate as neither parties look ready to back down.
Lee Byung-ho, head of Seoul’s National Intelligence Service, reportedly said last week that he expects the Kim regime to “collapse within two years.”
His predecessor Nam Jae-joon had said at the dawn of the Park administration that he expects the two Koreas to be unified by 2015. The comment sparked concerns from opposition lawmakers that it would lead to hostilities.
Observers have raised the possibility that Pyongyang may carry out provocative military action ahead of the party convention in May.
On Tuesday, U.S. media reported that the North conducted a ground test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile in defiance of the U.S. Security Council resolution that bans it from all ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The report was not confirmed by the U.S. and South Korean authorities.
In light of the missile threats from Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington have kicked off talks to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system here. Although the allies have refuted Pyongyang’s claims that it has the capacity for a nuclear ballistic missile attack, Seoul said that it sees the missile and rocket launchers as “a real threat.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday that the allies have “agreed in principal” to deploy the advanced missile defense system here.
He told the House Armed Services Committee that it is to defend the entire Korean Peninsula against North Korean missiles, and said that this is why the U.S. wants to add THAAD to the already existing Patriot missile defense system.
By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)