North lashes out at defense minister

By Kang Seung-woo

Kim Kwan-jin Defense Minister

North Korea has intensified its verbal salvo against the South’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, as its state-run newspaper claimed Sunday that he is losing the people’s support in terms of his stance toward North Korea.

The Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said that the people in the South are denouncing Kim in a unified chorus as well as further claims that this is ostensibly because he is the source of the bellicose rhetoric against Pyongyang.

It cited the recent incident of the delivery of a parcel containing a suspicious white powder and a threatening letter to the minister as a sign of protest from South Korean people. The white powder turned out to be flour. The package was delivered days after hundreds of leaflets were disseminated criticizing him for his hard-line stance toward North Korea.

The paper said that the incident is “the (South Korean) public’s final warning against the warmonger,” in collusion with the United States, who are itching to engage in a nuclear war with North Korea.

Kim has maintained a firm position on taking stern actions against any provocations from the North.

Pyongyang has always denounced the annual South Korean-U.S. joint military exercises ― the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve ― calling it a rehearsal for a northward U.S. invasion aimed at toppling its communist regime. The ongoing Foal Eagle is scheduled to finish on Tuesday.

The North has a history of lashing out at fiery comments by the minister, who has ordered border troops to react forcefully and decisively to all North Korean military provocations. Recently, the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a video clip as part of its propaganda activities that showed trained military German shepherd dogs mauling an effigy of the defense minister.

In addition, another piece of propaganda published by the state media shows North Korean soldiers poised to shoot at a pejoratively labeled paper target of the defense minister at close range.