Corea del Norte declaró sus intenciones de esta semana para reducir Corea del Sur "a las cenizas" en menos de cuatro minutos. Esta amenaza fue realizada por el ejército de Corea del Norte en un momento de crecientes tensiones y el lanzamiento de un cohete fallido del Norte.

Se rumorea que Pyongyang podría realizar una prueba nuclear en un futuro próximo. Mientras tanto, el ejército de Corea del Norte se ha comprometido, en un comunicado publicado recientemente, para iniciar "acciones especiales" contra el gobierno de Corea del Sur y las empresas de medios de comunicación conservadores que lo haría “reducir todos los grupos como las ratas y las bases para las provocaciones, a cenizas en tres o cuatro minutos, (o) en un tiempo mucho más corto, sin precedentes por medios y métodos peculiares de nuestro propio estilo.” Corea del Norte amenaza con frecuencia y critica al gobierno de Seúl. They mentioned they will wage a “sacred war” against the South.

Reports by the state-run North Korean Central News Agency say that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had insulted the North’s April 15 celebrations of the birth centennial of national founder Kim Il Sung. This report and the accusations was unusual in that the North promised something soon and mentioned a specific period of time for the destruction, es decir; “three or four minutes.”

Seúl, South Korea expressed concern over the increasing rhetoric saying “We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice.” The Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters, “We express deep concern that the North’s threats and accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions.”

No military movements have been spotted in the North. Some strategists think the North may be planning terrorist attacks against the South. Kim Young-soo, a professor at Sogang University in Seoul said, “It would not be wise to launch a large-scale military attack against Seoul, which is backed by nearly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South.”

Friendly relations between the Koreas have been bad since Lee took office in 2008 with a policy that ended aid shipments to the North.