North Korea's military on Tuesday threatened the South with imminent "sledge-hammer" retaliation unless Seoul apologized for anti-Pyongyang protestors burning effigies of its revered leaders.South Korea called the North's ultimatum "regrettable" and vowed a tough response to any military provocation.
The warning came a day after U.S. Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
wrapped up a Northeast Asian tour aimed at defusing soaring military tensions on the Korean peninsula and getting China to help rein in a belligerent Pyongyang.
As North Korea marked the birth of late founding leader Kim Il-Sung on Monday -- a major national holiday -- around 40 protesters in Seoul burned portraits of Kim, his son
Kim Dear LeaderJong-Il
... hereditary dictator of North Korea. His definition of
reunificationisn't the same as the definition in Seoul...
and grandson and current leader Kim Jong-Un.
Condemning what it described as a "thrice-cursed... monstrous criminal act," the Korean People's Army (KPA) Supreme Command issued an "ultimatum" threatening "just" and immediate action if an apology was not forthcoming.
"Our retaliatory action will start without any notice," it said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
"The military demonstration... will be powerful sledge-hammer blows at all hostile forces hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership," it added.