UPDATE - Koreas exchange threats over missile defense system

UPDATES THROUGHOUT

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - North Korea threatened Monday to turn its southern neighbor into a “sea of flames,” prompting South Korea to warn of “stringent retaliation.”

The inter-Korean exchange was provoked by last Friday’s announcement by Seoul and the United States that they plan to deploy America’s powerful THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system in the South by the end of next year – after months of intense rumors and negotiations, during which China and Russia emphasized their opposition to the move.

Given THAAD’s purported ability to defend against the North’s fast developing missile capabilities, South Korean President Park Geun-hye justified the decision Monday by highlighting her obligation to protect her country.

Speaking during a government meeting covered by local news agency Yonhap, Park also sent a message to Beijing and Moscow when insisting that the incoming missile defense system “will not target any country other than North Korea, and will not encroach upon the security interests of any third country.”

Earlier in the day, the North released an aggressive military statement via Pyongyang’s official KCNA media outlet.

“We once again warn the enemies that it is the steadfast will of the Korean People's Army (KPA) to make merciless retaliatory strikes to reduce South Korea to a sea of flames and debris once an order is issued,” the dispatch warned.

North Korea had raised tensions over the weekend by attempting to test a submarine-launched ballistic missile – despite already operating under toughened United Nations sanctions for continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction.

KCNA also said Monday that the North had “notified the U.S. that it should take responsibility for disastrous events which could take place.”

Washington announced its own unprecedented punitive measures last week targeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over Pyongyang’s human rights record.

In response, the North cautioned that it would cut off even indirect diplomatic contact with the U.S. and handle its current American prisoners – a college student and a man in his 60s – under the potentially tougher guidelines of martial law.

Seoul’s defense ministry urged Pyongyang to examine its behavior if it seeks to assign blame for the pending arrival of THAAD on the peninsula.

“If North Korea continues its groundless claims and rash actions in defiance of our warnings, it will have to face our military's stringent retaliation,” a ministry spokesperson told reporters.