Backed by Russia, North Korea calls Defense Minister Shin Won-sik's remarks "worst provocation, trigger for conflict"

"Verbal Abuse in the Wartime Hostile Relations"
North Korea Aligning Closely with Russia... Daily Provocations Against South Korea

On the afternoon of the 2nd, citizens at Seoul Station are watching news about North Korea's cruise missile launch. [Image source=Yonhap News]

North Korea criticized recent remarks by Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, saying they "could trigger physical clashes." As North Korea strengthens its external ties with Russia, it appears to be continuously escalating provocations against South Korea.

In a commentary on the 5th, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency pointed out that Minister Shin "recklessly uttered the worst absurdities such as 'the end of the regime' and 'elimination of the enemy leadership' without hesitation after the fact that three U.S. aircraft carriers were simultaneously deployed near the Korean Peninsula was revealed."

It added, "Even a child knows that such abusive language between two hostile countries at war amounts to an explicit declaration of war and could serve as a trigger for physical clashes," and stated, "We have already warned that the so-called 'Jik, Gang, Kkeut' (immediately, strongly, to the end) principle shouted by the puppet warmongers could turn into 'instant death, forced death, the end.'"

Earlier, on the 24th of last month, Minister Shin visited the 17th Fighter Wing of the Air Force in Cheongju, Chungbuk, and told the troops, "If the Kim Jong-un regime makes the worst choice of starting a war, we must become the vanguard that eliminates the enemy leadership and announces the end of the regime in the shortest possible time." North Korea appears to have taken issue with this statement.

In particular, the news agency criticized South Korea's military for conducting joint maritime and air exercises with U.S. strategic assets such as the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the nuclear strategic bomber B-1B, as well as Japan's Aegis destroyers and fighter jets, saying, "The puppet military ruffians have carried out anti-Republic war exercises alone so many times that the number cannot even be counted."

It also specifically mentioned the 32nd Division's missile attack drills on the West Sea coast and surprise landing exercises in coastal areas, the 55th Division's cold-weather training, winter crossing exercises by the 7th Engineer Brigade and the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division, comprehensive anti-infiltration training by the 1st Marine Division, and wartime drills by the 17th Division, accusing them of "displaying war madness."

The news agency claimed, "It would be wise to remember that the various large-scale war exercises conducted simultaneously, breaking all-time records, contain the risk of completely deciding the fragile fate of the already precarious puppet Republic of Korea."

North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un supervised the test launch of the newly developed submarine-launched strategic cruise missile 'Bulhwachal-3-31' on the morning of the 28th of last month, according to a report by Korean Central TV on the 29th of the same month. [Image source=Yonhap News]

North Korea has recently been raising the level of provocations against South Korea while strengthening relations with Russia.

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the 1st (local time), defended North Korea by calling President Yoon Suk-yeol's criticism of North Korea's legislative move toward a preemptive nuclear strike and successive provocations, made during the Central Integrated Defense Meeting on the 31st of last month, "blatantly biased."

In response, the South Korean government criticized the remarks as "rude, ignorant, and biased below standard for a foreign ministry spokesperson," and on the same day summoned Russian Ambassador to South Korea Zinoviev to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building to lodge a stern protest.

On the 2nd, Andrey Rudenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Asia-Pacific Affairs of Russia, visited South Korea for the first time since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and held high-level talks, but no significant progress in relations was reported. Rather, given Zakharova's harsh remarks during Rudenko's visit, some analysts suggest that the visit itself holds little significance.

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