*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 2)

North Korea Threatens to Wage Sacred War Based on 'Nuclear Deterrent'

  
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Amid the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea on Dec. 23 reiterated its warning of nuclear warfare, with a top North Korean military leader saying that the North is ready to launch a "sacred war against the U.S. imperialists and their followers on the basis of nuclear deterrent."

   According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yong-chun, minister of the People's Armed Forces, made the warning while reading a report during a ceremony in Pyongyang marking the 19th anniversary of leader Kim Jong-il gaining supreme commandership of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA).

   "The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK (North Korea) are getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at any time necessary to cope with the enemies' actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying in the report.

   Referring to the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula, Kim went on to say that the South Korean forces perpetrated such military provocations as shellings against North Korea during their recent exercises for a war of aggression in the Yellow Sea.

   Tensions have been running high on the divided peninsula since March, when Pyongyang allegedly torpedoed a 1,200-ton South Korean warship, claiming the lives of 46 young sailors. North Korea struck a civilian-inhabited South Korean border island last month, killing four people and sending Seoul and the United States to conduct massive joint military drills that lasted several days.

   "The enemy's scenario for aggression aimed at the start of another Korean War has reached the phase of its implementation. The army and people of the DPRK (North Korea) never make empty talk. Should the enemies intrude into the sky, land and seas of the DPRK even 0.001 millimeter, the KPA will as ever continue dealing more devastating physical blows at them without hesitation," Kim said.

   "In case the U.S. imperialists and their followers finally spark off an all-out war, the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will not only wipe out the aggressors, but blow up their bases and thus eradicate the root cause of war and surely accomplish the historic cause of national reunification," he said.

   Earlier December, the communist state warned in a statement carried by the KCNA that it would strike back with "deadlier" firepower if South Korea went ahead with its live-fire drill off Yeonpyeong, the front-line island the North bombarded last month. South Korean marines conducted their live-fire drills in waters off Yeonpyeong Island on Dec. 20.

   A national meeting was held at the North's April 25 House of Culture on Dec. 23 to mark the 19th anniversary of leader Kim Jong-il's gaining of the supreme commandership of the KPA.

   KPA Vice Marshal Kim Yong-chun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Commission of the Workers' Party, said the defense industry of the DPRK is now capable of producing any ultra-modern weapon and the KPA is demonstrating its might as a matchless revolutionary army.

   The next day, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his heir apparent son Kim Jong-un attended a military banquet on Dec. 24, an unusual activity that observers in Seoul said was apparently aimed at promoting unity in the face of sharp military tensions with South Korea.

   The military banquet was held to mark the 19th anniversary of leader Kim's inauguration as supreme commander of the country's military, the KCNA said on Dec. 25.

   Kim "warmly waved back to the enthusiastically cheering participants and heartily congratulated them for devoting themselves to the defense of the country and the prosperity of the socialist country, upholding the Songun revolutionary leadership of the party," the KCNA said.

   North Korea experts in the South took note of the Kims' participation in the banquet and the news report on it.

   "Amid heightened military tension on the Korean Peninsula, it is very meaningful that Chairman Kim attended the banquet to show off the North Korean military's internal cohesion and his firm footing as commander-in-chief," Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, said, referring to Kim's official title, chairman of the National Defense Commission.

   Kim's participation in the event also appears aimed at boosting loyalty among military officials to him and his son, he added.

   Meanwhile, the North's major newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, strongly criticized South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for creating a war mood. It described him as a traitor.

   During a visit to a front-line army base on Dec. 23, Lee reaffirmed Seoul's plan to strongly counter any future attack by the North. He said his belief that patience would keep peace on the peninsula was a misjudgment.

   "What he uttered was the worst provocation to the DPRK (North Korea) and agitation of confrontation and war baffling human imagination," the newspaper published by the powerful Workers' Party said in a Dec. 25 commentary.

   "The war hysteria ... was designed to hype the story about someone's 'provocation' in a bid to drive the situation on the Korean Peninsula to confrontation and war."

   The North has marked the anniversary every year since Kim's appointment as supreme commander of the North's military at a general meeting of the Workers' Party in 1991. But the last banquet was held in 2001, on the 10th anniversary of Kim's rise to power, and Kim did not attend.

   Analysts said the Dec. 24 banquet served the dual purpose of showing that Kim remains firmly in power despite growing health concerns and to solidify allegiance in the ruling circle to his named successor, Kim Jong-un, amid rumors that the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island was orchestrated to boost the young son's credentials.

   But South Korea will maintain a tough posture and high military alert, officials here said. South Korea lit up a giant Christmas tree on top of a border hill less than 3 kilometers away from North Korean land on Dec. 21, just a day after conducting live-fire drills that sparked concerns of another deadly exchange of fire between the two nations.

   Backing off from its previous threats, the communist North did not have any military reaction to Seoul's artillery exercise on Dec. 20, which it views as a territorial violation. The North also agreed with a visiting U.S. diplomat to allow U.N. nuclear inspectors back on its soil under a 2009 multinational agreement.

   The impoverished North, which suffered from immense flooding this summer and relies mostly on outside assistance to feed its people, apparently wants to resume denuclearization talks with regional powers -- Washington in particular -- to secure food and fuel.

   While Pyongyang's historical allies China and Russia support an early restart of the six-nation negotiations, other dialogue partners -- the U.S., South Korea and Japan -- view the resumption of the talks as "a reward for bad behavior."

   North Korea had expelled outside experts last year after walking from the multinational denuclearization negotiations, first held in 2003. Just before striking the small South Korean island of Yeonpyeong last month, Pyongyang unveiled to a visiting American scientist a new uranium enrichment facility, sparking concerns of a third nuclear test.

   A change of South Korea's policy toward North Korea was noticed on Dec. 29 when President Lee said stalled six-party talks are the only viable channel for denuclearizing Pyongyang, signaling his willingness to work toward the resumption of dialogue.

   In a report to President Lee, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said the three policy goals in 2011 are to lead North Korea to change in a positive manner, to establish sound inter-Korean relations and to begin preparations for reunification.

   The ministry also said it will push to bring North Korea to the table to discuss a comprehensive aid-for-denuclearization deal with South Korea, while stepping up monitoring for humanitarian aid.

  (END)