Stars and Stripes:
North Korea is stepping up its propaganda campaign ahead of annual U.S.-South Korea war games next month, saying the peninsula is “on the verge of war.”
Such rhetoric is common from Pyongyang at times of crisis; the current standoff began with the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and shows no signs of easing. Pyongyang has carried out a series of missile tests in recent months and made repeated threats that it is ready to attack South Korea and U.S. bases in the Pacific while pursuing the capability to hit the American mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile.
South Korea accused Pyongyang of floating propaganda leaflets down the Han River earlier this week. The military discovered dozens of plastic bags, each carrying about 20 leaflets, near the river’s estuary, close to the tense Korean border last Friday, the South’s Defense Ministry said.
Police also have launched an investigation after nearly 200 lapel pins bearing the image of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il turned up in a flowerbed near Incheon International Airport. Police recovered the coin-sized pins Thursday morning after a hotel employee reported there were North Korean propaganda leaflets in the flowerbed, said an officer who asked to remain anonymous.
Mere possession of the pins, which are mandatory accessories for all adults in North Korea, wouldn’t be considered a crime in the South; however, distribution of propaganda items would violate South Korea’s National Security Law, the officer said.
Kim Jong Il, who ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, was the son of the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, and the father of current leader Kim Jong Un.
