简体中文
Warlike rhetoric and threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will strengthen South Korean military's will to retaliate against the DPRK's provocations, Seoul's Defense Ministry said Friday.
"One day ahead of the third anniversary of the (Pyongyang's) shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, North Korea (DPRK) showed its audacity once again by threatening to turn South Korea's presidential office into a sea of fire,"Defense Ministry spokesman Wi Yong-seop told reporters at a regular press briefing.
Wi stressed that the DPRK's bellicose rhetoric would only harden the retribution will among South Korean military and people.
His comments came after the DPRK's southwestern front command of the Korean People's Army (KPA) threatened to turn the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae into a "sea of fire."
The command said in a statement carried early Friday by the Korean Central News Agency that if Seoul repeats "reckless provocations, the flames in Yeonpyeong Island three years ago will spread to the sea of fire in Cheong Wa Dae and other strongholds of the South Korean puppet government.
To mark the third anniversary of the DPRK's deadly shelling of the Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23, 2010, the South Korean Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps were jointly conducting the simulated command post exercises and field training, the spokesman said.
The exchange of artillery fire three years ago claimed lives of two South Korean marines and two civilians. "Our military has never forgotten the provocative shelling in Yeonpyeong Island. We beefed up military power in the area and maintained defense preparedness completely," said Wi.
South Korea built up its firepower and armed forces near the western maritime border with DPRK following the Yeonpyeong shelling.
Around 1,200 South Korean troops were additionally forward- deployed to military units near the six northwestern islands along the disputed western sea border, and the number of K-9 self- propelled howitzer, which was the only tool to fire back against the DPRK's shelling three years ago, more than doubled over the past three years.
Among newly or additionally deployed weapons were multiple rocket launchers, Artillery Hunting Radar (ARTHUR), Cobra attack helicopters and K-10 ammunition supply vehicles.
Deployment of Spike missiles with a range of about 20 km was completed in May to counter attacks from the DPRK's coastal artillery units. The precision-guided missiles can strike the DPRK artillery hidden in mines.
