So is it terrorism this time?
North Korea threatens to destroy Seoul and reduce its elected government “‘to ashes’ in three or four minutes,” apparently for “defaming” its menacing Kim Il Sung birthday parade:
North Korea’s military Monday threatened “special actions” soon to turn parts of the South Korean capital to ashes, accusing Seoul’s conservative government of defaming its leadership.
The North has for months been criticising the South’s President Lee Myung-Bak in extreme terms and threatening “sacred war” over perceived insults. There have been no incidents but the language has become increasingly vitriolic. Some analysts said they believe a military provocation is likely.
“The special actions of our revolutionary armed forces will start soon to meet the reckless challenge of the group of traitors,” said a statement on the official news agency. The North said its targets are “the Lee Myung-Bak group of traitors, the arch criminals, and the group of rat-like elements including conservative media destroying the mainstay of the fair public opinion”. [AFP]
Note well that none of the AP’s Pyongyang-based staff are listed on the byline for this story, about a threat that originates from Pyongyang. Is there really nothing newsworthy going on there?
President Bush removed North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008. Discuss among yourselves.
Well, if Mitt gets a chance, maybe he’ll edit the state sponsor of terrorism list. I wish I could personally could ask him about this.
Here is the tricky thing about the “list of states sponsoring terrorism”. Once they are put on this list, no negotiations are possible under the government policy. As you know, without negotiating with North Korea by having 6-point talks and so on, nothing could have been achieved in the past-not that much has been achieved. This is why even the currently number one enemy of the US, the Taliban, is not even on the list for possible negotiations in the future as they have been trying to make it happen in Qatar in the recent past. The Taliban is not a terrorist group, per se, but they are a militant and political group well known to sponsor Al Qaeda. Plus, when a government body, such as the North Korean government, threatens another country using means of terrorism, that would be an act of war. The term terrorism is just too broad and I personally hope that this term is used more carefully in the public.