North Korea vows 'sledge-hammer blows' of retaliation over protests in South

[NBCNews]

  Jeon Heon-Kyun/APAn effigy of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, left, and his father, former leader Kim Jong-Il, before being burned, during a rally against North Korea, in Seoul on April 15. By Robert Birsel and Jack Kim, ReutersNorth Korea issued new threats against South Korea on Tuesday, vowing  "sledge-hammer blows" of retaliation if South Korea did not apologize  for anti-North Korean protests the previous day when the North was  celebrating the birth of its founding leader.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldThe North also  rejected what it called "cunning" U.S. overtures for talks, saying it  will not be humiliated into being dragged to sit at the negotiating  table by Washington.

But a senior U.S. military official in  South Korea said the North Korean leadership was looking for a way to  cool down its rhetoric after weeks of warnings of war.

On  Monday, the North dropped its shrill threats against the United States  and South Korea as it celebrated the 101st anniversary of the birth of  its first leader, Kim Il-Sung, raising hopes for an easing of tension in  a region that has for weeks seemed on the verge of conflict.


But  the North's KCNA news agency said on Tuesday the North Korean army had  issued an ultimatum to the South after rallies in the South on Monday at  which portraits of North Korea's leaders were burned.

"Our  retaliatory action will start without any notice from now," KCNA  reported, citing military leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of  Korea (DPRK), as North Korea is officially known.

The North's  Foreign Ministry also rejected what it said was cunning U.S. scheming  aimed at defusing tensions on the Korean peninsula with an offer of  talks while deploying military assets capable of launching nuclear  strikes against it.

"We do not oppose dialogue but we will not  sit down at talks table in humiliation against opponents who are  swinging the nuclear club against us," an unnamed Foreign Ministry  spokesman said in comments carried by the KCNA news agency.

U.S.  Secretary of State John Kerry said in Seoul last week that Washington  was open to dialogue with Pyongyang on the condition that the talks  would lead to eliminating nuclear arsenal from the North.

South  Korean media reported several small demonstrations in the capital,  Seoul, on Monday. One television station showed pictures of a handful of  protesters burning a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Small counter-protests, by South Koreans calling for dialogue with the North, were also held, media reported.

The  North has threatened nuclear attacks on the United States, South Korea  and Japan after new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to its  latest nuclear arms test in February.

The North has also been  angry about annual military exercises between U.S. and South Korean  forces, describing them as a "hostile" act. The United States dispatched  B52 and B2 stealth bombers from their bases to take part.

Offer of talks

But along with the new threat on Tuesday, the North's KCNA raised the possibility of dialogue.

"If  the puppet authorities truly want dialogue and negotiations, they  should apologize for all anti-DPRK hostile acts, big and small, and show  the compatriots their will to stop all these acts," KCNA cited the  North's military as saying.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry  spokesman later told a briefing the North Korean ultimatum was not worth  a response and South Korea was waiting for the North to make a "wise  decision".

Last week, the South's President Park Geun-hye offered talks but the North rejected the overture as a "cunning" ploy.

Park  will meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on May 7 to  discuss economic and security issues, including "countering the North  Korean threat", the White House said on Monday.

The U.S.  military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a North  Korean missile test or nuclear test were possible but he believed it was  trying to tone down its the war of words.

"The DPRK leadership  is trying to figure out a way to off-ramp from the heightened state of  rhetoric that we've been seeing for the past several weeks," the  official told reporters.

North Korea faced difficulties trying  to "fix and tune up" its Soviet-era conventional weapons, and that was  why it wanted nuclear weapons, and the missiles to deliver them.

"They  are replacing that decreasing conventional capability with increasing  asymmetric capability of weapons of mass destruction, intercontinental  ballistic missiles and special operations forces," the official said.

The  United States has offered talks with the North, but on the  pre-condition that it abandons its nuclear weapons ambitions. North  Korea deems its nuclear arms a "treasured sword" and has vowed never to  give them up.

However, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry, ending his  visit to Korea, appeared to open the door to talking without requiring  the North to take denuclearization steps in advance. Beijing, he said,  could be an intermediary.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests but it was not believed to be near weapons capability.

Missile  launches and nuclear tests by North Korea are both banned under U.N.  Security Council resolutions that were expanded after the North's  February test.

The aim of the North's aggression, analysts say,  is to bolster the leadership of Kim Jong Un, the 30-year-old grandson  Kim Il-Sung, or to force the United States, which has 28,000 troops in  South Korea, to open talks.

A U.S. Marine transport helicopter  crashed in South Korea on Tuesday, near the border with North Korea,  with 21 people on board during exercises with South Korean forces.

The  U.S. military described the accident as a "hard landing" and said six  people were in stable condition in hospital. South Korean media said the  helicopter caught fire after all on board got out. The cause of the  accident would be investigated, the U.S. military said.

 

Related:

Obama on N. Korea: We must deal with 'every contingency'

Kerry in Japan: US ready to 'reach out' to North Korea

China urges peaceful resolution of North Korea nuclear standoff



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