NK ready to fire at leaflet distribution site
North Korea warned Wednesday it is ready to launch fire over a plan by South Korean activists to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border from a western front-line island later this week, raising memories of a deadly artillery clash last year.
Speaking to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), an unidentified North Korean commander denounced such psychological warfare as "an act of war," warning his forces across the entire border are prepared to fire at South Korean sites for propaganda.
The commander pointed to a plan by South Korean activists to send leaflets in balloons on Friday and Saturday from Baengnyeong island in the Yellow Sea, accusing Seoul of organizing such activities.
The island is close to Yeonpyeong island, which the North shelled in November last year, killing two marines and two civilians. It is also near the site of the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March last year, which the South blames on the North.
"If the South's puppet warmongers do not want to see the lesson of the Yeonpyeong artillery battle repeat, it must act discreetly and stop all its moves for psychological warfare, including the dissemination of leaflets," the commander was quoted as saying.
"Our troops are ready to squarely aim and fire at strongholds of psychological warfare at any moment and move into real combat action when we want," he said, according to the KCNA.
The North, which remains technically at war with the South after the 1950-53 Korean War, threatened on Feb. 27 to fire at South Korean sites ― the western tourist zone of Imjingak, in particular ― if activists continued to send propaganda material in balloons.
Following the murder of the mother of one organizer earlier this month, the activists called off their plan to rally at Imjingak and float anti-Pyongyang leaflets. Police are on the hunt for a suspect they say appears to be a Chinese man with ethnic Korean roots.
Inter-Korean tensions remain high in the Yellow Sea after the series of incidents that claimed the lives of a total of 50 South Koreans last year.
The latest threat by the North Korean military came only a day after Seoul accepted Pyongyang's proposal to discuss possible volcanic activity at a North Korean mountain, raising speculation the sides were seeking ways to resume dialogue.(Yonhap)
北 "대북전단 살포하면 조준사격 하겠다"
북한이 23일 일부 탈북자 단체의 대북전단 살포 계획을 비난하면서 조준격파 사격 경고에 나섰다.
조선중앙통신 등에 따르면 북한군 전선서부지구사령관은 이날 "우리 군대는 괴뢰들의 심리모략행위에 대처해 전선서부는 물론 전반적인 전선에서 직접조준격파사격태세를 갖추고 있다"고 말했다.
그는 이어 "군사적 견지에서 볼 때 심리전은 곧 전쟁행위인데 괴뢰 군부호전광들이 악질보수단체들을 끌어내 삐라 살포를 계속 시도하고 있다"면서 "연평도 포격전의 교훈을 되풀이하지 않으려면 삐라 살포를 포함한 심리전 책동을 당장 중지해야 한다"고 경고했다.
탈북자 단체 20여개는 22일 천안함 폭침 1년을 맞아 25~26일 백령도 심청각에서 대북전단을 살포하겠다고 밝혔다. 이들 단체는 북한의 사격 경고와 상관없이 예정대로 전단 살포 행사를 진행하겠다는 입장인 것으로 알려졌다.