North Korea warns South of strikes amid turmoil

North Korea has sent a letter to the office of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea,threatening “retaliatory strikes without warning” if conservative activists’ anti-Pyongyang rallies in Seoul were not stopped,officials said Friday.

North Korea has often used such heated language against Seoul and Washington before. But its latest threat came amid concerns that the North Korean leader,Kim Jong-un,might stage an armed provocation to raise tensions after execution of Jang Song-thaek,his uncle and presumed mentor,considered the No. 2 man in the North.

In its letter delivered through the border village of Panmunjom Thursday,the National Defence Commission – a top North Korean governing agency headed by Kim – condemned recent rallies in downtown Seoul in which anti-North Korean and Confucian activists burned Kim in effigy,berating him as a “devil” who killed his own uncle. North Korea called the rallies “megaprovocations” against Kim’s authority.

The letter was addressed to National Security Council at President Park’s office,said the spokesman for the South Korean Defence Ministry.