A top DPRK party official warned of war Saturday during a speech at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square, according to The Guardian.
The threats come in response to anti-North Korea broadcasts currently blaring out of South Korea, over the heavily militarized demilitarized zone – the border between the two rival nations. The broadcasts are themselves a South Korean response to the North’s alleged hydrogen bomb test on January 6.
Speaking to a crowd estimated to be in the thousands, the senior party official cited the propaganda broadcasts, as well as talks between Washington and Seoul on the possibility of stationing nuclear bombers in the South, for pushing the Korean Peninsula to the "brink of war," according to The Guardian report.
State-run media published images of the demonstration, which showed a massive crowd holding propaganda signs praising North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whose birthday was Friday, according to Reuters.
The troublesome and aggressive comments from the North Korean official are consistent with past war rhetoric, including comments made the last time the speakers were deployed on the southern side of the DMZ in August. That propaganda barrage resulted in an exchange of artillery fire.
The anti-North broadcasts are occurring at 11 locations along the DMZ and consist of critical comments directed at the Pyongyang regime, as well as ‘K-pop’ music.
The heightened tensions come as world powers look for other ways to reprimand the rogue nation for its nuclear test. According to reports, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged China, the North’s largest provider of aid and ally, to end “business as usual” with the DPRK.
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[Cover image via Reuters, accessed via The Toronto Star, additonal image via The Guardian.]
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