North Korea Condemns South Korean Defense Minister’s Remarks as Precursors to Conflict

On the 5th, North Korea criticized the remarks of South Korean Defense Minister Sin Won Sik as a “trigger for physical conflict.”

Previously, Minister Sin had urged the soldiers during his visit to the 17th Fighter Wing in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on the 24th of last month, saying, “If the Kim Jong Un regime makes the worst choice of starting a war, you must be the vanguard announcing the end of the regime by eliminating the enemy leadership in the shortest possible time as ‘the invisible force protecting the Republic of Korea.'”

The Korean Central News Agency criticized in a commentary that day, “As soon as the fact that three U.S. aircraft carriers were deployed near the Korean Peninsula was revealed, he (Minister Sin) unhesitatingly made the worst remarks about ‘the end of the regime’ and ‘eliminating enemy leadership.'”

They continued, pointing out that “Even kids know that such abusive language in the relationship between the two hostile countries at war will serve as a blatant propaganda and a trigger for physical conflict.”

Furthermore, the agency criticized our military’s recent training, mentioning the winter training of the 32nd and 55th Army Divisions and the combat shooting training of the 17th Army Division, saying, “They are stirring up war hysteria.”

The agency argued, “The unspeakable vilification against our country and various scales of war exercises pose a risk of leading to a complete break in the fragile fate of the puppet Republic of Korea.”