N. Korea threatens South with "sea of fire"

South Korea Marines run during a military exercise on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Nov. 23, 2011. / AP

Updated 6:06 PM EST

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea threatened Thursday to turn Seoul's presidential palace office into a "sea of fire," stepping up its rhetoric one day after South Korea conducted large-scale military drills near a front-line island attacked by North Korea last year.

On Wednesday, South Korea mobilized aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery guns and naval boats for the first anniversary of the artillery attack on a military garrison and fishing community on Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. Two marines and two construction workers were killed in the attack, the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.

A similar "sea of fire" threatens to engulf Seoul's presidential Blue House if South Korean forces fire a single shot into North Korean territory, the North's People's Army warned in a statement from Pyongyang.

Pyongyang accuses Seoul of provoking last year's attack, saying it struck after warning the South not to hold live-fire drills in the disputed waters. South Korea has said it fired shells southward, not toward the North, as part of routine exercises last year.

"If they dare to impair our dignity again, the deluge of fire on Yeonpyeong Island will lead to the sea of fire in Blue House" in Seoul, the North's People's Army warned in a statement from Pyongyang. "They should not forget the lesson taught" by the island shelling.

If provoked again like last year, the North's military will launch merciless, annihilating and more powerful strikes to "blow up the island without any trace," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a separate statement later Thursday.

Both statements were carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

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The North has issued similar threats over years at times of tension with South Korea.

The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because their conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. However, North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by the U.N. in 1953, and the waters have been a flashpoint for violence over the years.

Since then, South Korea has spent millions of dollars beefing up its arsenal. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Jung Seung-jo said his forces would "crush the enemy" if they strike again.

Wednesday's maneuvers took place off Baengnyeong Island, South Korean-held territory near the maritime border. The drills were meant to send a strong message to North Korea but did not include live-fire exercises, military officials said.

Relations between the two Koreas sank to the their lowest point in years in 2010 after two incidents — the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. Pyongyang denies involvement in the sinking.

However, there have been some signs tensions are easing, with both sides seeking to discuss ways to resume nuclear disarmament-for-aid talks and allowing South Korea's religious and cultural figures to travel to North Korea. On Thursday, a group of South Korean scholars visited the North Korean border town of Kaesong for a joint project of recovering and preserving the site of an ancient palace.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday during a visit to a military command that he was sorry North Korea had not yet apologized for the shelling. He said Pyongyang must apologize if it wants relations to improve.

Wednesday's maneuvers took place off Baengnyeong Island, South Korean-held territory near the maritime border. The drills were meant to send a strong message to North Korea but did not include live-fire exercises, military officials said.

Relations between the two Koreas sank to the their lowest point in years in 2010 after two incidents: the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. Pyongyang denies involvement in the sinking.

However, there have been some signs tensions are easing, with both sides seeking to discuss ways to resume nuclear disarmament-for-aid talks and allowing South Korea's religious and cultural figures to travel to North Korea. On Thursday, a group of South Korean scholars visited the North Korean border town of Kaesong for a joint project of recovering and preserving the site of an ancient palace.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday during a visit to a military command that he was sorry North Korea had not yet apologized for the shelling. He said Pyongyang must apologize if it wants relations to improve.

[lawyertom1]

Usual North Korean bluster. Of no merit whatsoever.

[irreverentasever]

South Korea needs to fire back with its own snappy rhetoric like; We're going to turn North Korea into a toilet bowl of crap! Oh wait, it already is.

[rbmcbs11743]

This bickering and threats between the leaders of these two countries, including NUKE, has been going on since the armistice in 1953. It has become not only a nuisance but also a matter of indifference. Personally I am already used to this bickering and threats. Even WAR in Korea is nothing but BIG NOISE. Only a NUKE blast on either side of the land over there will stun me, if it ever happens.

[netjunkie1]

They have a truce, no armistice was signed.
The north has a record of international kidnapping.
The north has sunk a South Korean warship without cause.
The north cannot be trusted to stand by any agreement since it never has.
Food is scarce in the north, whenever food is sent, the military confiscates and it disappears.

[Social_Adjudicator]

It's all about money and the cowardice of the leadship of two Communist Nations to address their own fiscal problems within. Instead, they are on a path of using subordinate territories as a dumping ground for munitions and other devices of war in an effort to "create jobs", by preying on an animosity that a people have toward one another through the means of external provocation and influences. Same stuff different time, just another Vietnam. More than likely in their cowardice; this time there would be an attempt to remain as removed as possible and purely take advantage of the downtrodden. So pathetic.

[Thomas1924]

Same ole S----- from North Korea. They blister and all that stuff. If you are going to do something DO IT, DON'T JUST KEEP UTTERING EMPTY ANGRY RHETORIC. And then suffer the Consequence of being obliterated from existence. No "sea of Fire" threatened or needed.

[Phakt1]

All you can do is laugh. So sad.

[ctt1wbw]

Maybe we can reinstate the draft and get healthy young men from all of our 57 states to help combat the North Korean Sea of Fire (tm).

[rjm2238]

These inept bums couldn't light a sea of fire anywhere unless somebody lends them the money to buy the gas and shows them how to strike a match!
Cut off all aid now and they will all starve to death in three months and then carpet bomb the surviving ruling class who will have hoarded all the remaining food for themselves.
After that no more of this nonsense here in the South and no more suffering for anyone who happens to remain in the North. No more of these empty threats and no more cowardly pandering, bomb the heII out of those Red bums, once and for all. Should have allowed MacArthur to do it sixty years ago and we wouldn't be listening to this crapola now.
Rich in New Mexico.

[rjm2238]

These inept bums couldn't light a sea of fire anywhere unless somebody lends them the money to buy the gas and shows them how to strike a match!
Cut off all aid now and they will all starve to death in three months and then carpet bomb the surviving ruling class who will have hoarded all the remaining food for themselves.
After that no more of this nonsense here in the South and no more suffering for anyone who happens to remain in the North. No more of these empty threats and no more cowardly pandering, bomb the heII out of those Red bums, once and for all. Should have allowed MacArthur to do it sixty years ago and we wouldn't be listening to this crapola now.
Rich in New Mexico.

[rrsltx]

Isn't it about time to squash that little cockroach Kim? I've had about enough of his crap. Oh wait, we can't. We're cutting the military budget by a trillion dollars. I guess we better get used to tyrants and despots pushing us around.