North Korea threatens attacks on South media

PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korea’s military warned Monday that troops have aimed artillery at the specific coordinates of South Korean media groups as Pyongyang threatened a “merciless sacred war” over perceived insults.

The North Korean statement, which expresses outrage over South Korean media criticism of ongoing children’s festivals in Pyongyang, is the latest in a series of threats aimed at Seoul’s conservative government and news agencies following the December death of Kim Jong Il, the father of new leader Kim Jong Un.

Monday’s comments from the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army contained an unusually specific mention of the longitude and latitude of the locations of seven media outlets. North Korea said it had targeted those agencies and would attack if Seoul doesn’t apologize for orchestrating a “vicious smear campaign” against the festivals in the North’s capital.

In Seoul, the Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, called the statement a “grave provocation.”

Among the South Korean media groups North Korea threatened was Channel A, a television network affiliated with the conservative Dong-a Ilbo newspaper, which has described the children’s festivals in Pyongyang as an Adolf Hitler-style “political show.”

Channel A and other South Korean media have reported this year’s celebrations will be the North’s largest ever, saying Kim Jong Un is trying to obtain allegiance from children who will join the army in a few years under a mandatory conscription system.