FILE - In this April 20, 2012 file …
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea's military vowed Monday to launch unspecified "special actions" soon meant to reduce South Korea's conservative government and media companies "to ashes" in less that four minutes, in an escalation of its recent threats.
North Korea regularly criticizes Seoul and just last week renewed its promise to wage a "sacred war," saying South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had insulted the North's April 15 celebrations of the birth centennial of national founder Kim Il Sung.
But
Monday's military statement, which vowed actions of "unprecedented
peculiar means," was unusual in promising something soon and describing a
specific length of time.
The
threat follows U.N. condemnation of North Korea's launch of a long-range
rocket that exploded shortly after liftoff April 13. Washington, Seoul
and others called the launch a cover for testing long-range missile
technology. Pyongyang said the launch was meant to put a satellite into
orbit.
The North's
special actions "will 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,"
according to the statement by the special operation action group of the
Korean People's Army's Supreme Command.
Some South Korean analysts
speculated the North's statement was meant to unnerve Seoul; others
that the North could be planning terrorist attacks.
It seemed
unlikely that North Korea would launch a large-scale military attack
against Seoul, which is backed by nearly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in
the South, said Kim Young-soo, a professor at Sogang University in
Seoul.
The North's latest threat, which was carried by its state
media, comes amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, with both
Koreas recently unveiling new missiles.
The animosity has prompted
worries that North Korea may conduct a new nuclear test — something it
did after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009. South Korean intelligence
officials have said that recent satellite images show North Korea has
been digging a new tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third
nuclear test.
South Korea's Unification Ministry said it was
examining North Korea's intentions behind the statement; the Defense
Ministry said no special military movement had been observed in the
North. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.
Relations
between the Koreas have been abysmal since Lee took office in 2008 with
a hard-line policy that ended unconditional aid shipments to the North.
In
Beijing, North Korea's biggest ally, China's top foreign policy
official met Sunday with a North Korean delegation and expressed
confidence in the country's new young leader, Kim Jong Un.
___
Associated Press writers Youkyung Lee and Jiyoung Won contributed to this report from Seoul.