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This is an archive article published on November 25, 2011
Will turn Seouls presidential palace into sea of fire: N Korea
Two marines and two construction workers were killed in the 2010 attack,the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.
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Will turn Seouls presidential palace into sea of fire: N Korea
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North Korea threatened Thursday to turn Seouls presidential palace into a sea of fire, stepping up its rhetoric one day after South Korea conducted large-scale military drills near a front-line island attacked by the North last year.
On Wednesday,South Korea mobilised aircraft,rocket launchers,artillery guns and naval boats for the first anniversary of the artillery attack on a military garrison and fishing community on Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. Two marines and two construction workers were killed in the 2010 attack,the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Pyongyang accuses Seoul of provoking last years attack,saying it struck after warning the South not to hold live-fire drills in the disputed waters. South Korea says it fired shells southward,not toward the North,as part of routine exercises.
If they dare to impair our dignity again,the deluge of fire on Yeonpyeong Island will lead to the sea of fire in Blue House in Seoul,the Norths Peoples Army warned in a statement from Pyongyang. They should not forget the lesson taught by the island shelling.
If provoked again,the Norths military will launch merciless,annihilating and more powerful strikes to blow up the island without any trace, the Norths Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a separate statement later Thursday.
Both statements were carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The North has issued similar threats over the years at times of tension with South Korea.
The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because their conflict ended in a truce,not a peace treaty. However,North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by the UN in 1953,and the waters have been a flashpoint for violence over the years.
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Since then,South Korea has spent millions of dollars beefing up its arsenal. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Jung Seung-jo said his forces would crush the enemy if they strike again.
Wednesdays manoeuvres took place off Baengnyeong Island,South Korean-held territory.
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