North Korea's Strong Warning to South Korea: "Even a Stone Buddha in a Temple Would Laugh at This Farce"

Official Media Chosun Central News Commentary
"Crime and Punishment Grow from the Same Root"
"Deserved Punishment for the Crimes Committed by South Korea"

Amid rising tensions between the South and the North, with North Korea announcing the resumption of military exercises after blowing up the Kaesong Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office, North Korean soldiers are on guard duty at a North Korean military post viewed from the border area in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on the 18th.
/Paju=Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Regarding North Korea's demolition of the Kaesong Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office and its denunciations and military threats against South Korea, the North harshly rebutted on the 19th, calling it a "ridiculous spectacle that even a stone Buddha would laugh at" and accusing the South Korean authorities of having "lost their senses."

North Korea's state-run media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), in a commentary titled "A Punishment Deserved Ten Million Times," stated, "South Korean authorities should clearly understand that all measures we take correspond to the price of their crimes and are just punishments, and stop the nonsense of shifting the blame for the deterioration of inter-Korean relations."

The agency listed the expressions used by the South Korean government in its recent strong protests against North Korea's actions, saying, "They are putting on a ridiculous spectacle that would make even a stone Buddha in a temple laugh," and raised its voice, calling it "the height of audacity and hypocrisy."

KCNA pointed out that "there is a limit to our patience," criticizing South Korea for neglecting the distribution of anti-North leaflets and consistently violating inter-Korean agreements.

The agency claimed, "It is none other than the South Korean authorities who, while staging the withdrawal of guard posts and mine clearance in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in front, have been shamelessly conducting war exercises in collusion with foreign forces behind the scenes, spending astronomical amounts of taxpayers' money to bring in advanced war equipment aimed at their own compatriots."

It continued, "Although they pledged to prohibit hostile acts in the front-line zones, they tolerated and encouraged the leaflet distribution by human scum ten times last year and three times this year, severely provoking us. Yet, while we have been exhausted dealing with the heaps of filth, when the people and soldiers rose up to retaliate by distributing leaflets and to fundamentally punish the habitats of these madmen, we have restrained ourselves as much as possible for the sake of the nation's greater cause."

KCNA emphasized, "Where there is a cause, there is an effect, and crime and punishment grow from the same root," adding, "There is no need to face an opponent who has neither the will nor the ability to carry out actions, nor sincerity or substance; what remains is only reckoning."

Kim Yu-geun, the First Deputy Director of the National Security Office at the Blue House, is wearing a stern expression during a briefing on the results of the NSC Standing Committee meeting at the Chunuchuan Grand Briefing Room of the Blue House on the afternoon of the 16th.

Meanwhile, the Blue House, Ministry of Unification, and Ministry of National Defense responded in an unusually strong tone to North Korea's successive military provocations, threats, and denunciations against the South.

When Kim Yo-jong, First Deputy Director of the North Korean Workers' Party, issued a harsh statement criticizing President Moon Jae-in's remarks at the 20th anniversary event of the June 15 Inter-Korean Joint Declaration, Yoon Do-han, Senior Secretary for Public Communication at the Blue House, criticized Kim on the 17th during a briefing, calling her tone "rude" and her actions "unreasonable."

The Blue House immediately convened a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Security Council (NSC), chaired by National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong, to discuss countermeasures.

After the meeting, Kim Yoo-geun, NSC Secretary-General, expressed "strong regret" over North Korea's unilateral demolition of the liaison office and pointed out that it was "an act that betrays the expectations of all those who wish for the development of inter-Korean relations and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula." He warned, "If the North continues to take measures that worsen the situation, we will respond strongly."

Seo Ho, Vice Minister of Unification and head of the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office, also issued a statement on the same day regarding the demolition of the liaison office building by North Korea, calling it "an unprecedented, unreasonable, and unacceptable act in inter-Korean relations," expressing "deep regret and strong protest."

Vice Minister Seo emphasized, "The destruction of the liaison office violates the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration and is a unilateral breach of the agreement on the establishment and operation of the inter-Korean liaison office," adding, "The North must bear appropriate responsibility for this action."

The Ministry of National Defense also released a statement, saying, "If North Korea carries out military provocations, our military will respond strongly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.