[imText1]It has been 12 years since the North Korean government has mentioned the “Seoul Deluge of Fire’.
On the 16th, through its website, ‘Among our people’, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland claimed that, “If the citizens of Seoul vote for the Grand National Party, everyone on the peninsula will be forced to face the ravages of war”, in an article entitled, “Citizens of Seoul expected to make the responsible choice”.
The website asserted that, “The citizens of Seoul could have not forgotten the dictatorial period and the warphobia which made people fear that Seoul could be awash a deluge of fire”. Also, it said that, “We believe that the citizens of Seoul will vote against the Grand National Party, based on their duty, ethnic conscience and responsibility”.
The website also said that, “If the Grand National Party, which is against ethnic reconciliation, cooperation, and mutual assistance, has an opportunity to come into power, aggressive U.S. policy would prompt a war on the peninsula”.
On March 19, 2004 when the first NK nuclear crisis arose, Park Young Su, who participated in the working-level talks on a special envoy exchange between the two Koreas said abusively that, “If a war occurs, Seoul will be engulfed fire.”
◆ Summary
– The citizens of Seoul could have not forgotten the dictatorial period and the warphobia which made people fear that Seoul could be englufed in flames.
– If the Grand National Party, which is against ethnic reconciliation, cooperation, and mutual assistance, repudiates the 6.15 Joint Declaration has an opportunity to come to power, the aggressive U.S. policy will force a war on the peninsula.
– We believe that the citizens of Seoul will vote against the Grand National Party, based on their duty, ethnic conscience and responsibility.
◆ Explanation
North Korea has been increasingly consumed with the result of the South Korean local elections coming up in late May. On the 10th, through the website ‘Among our people’, the North Korean government threatened, “If in the South Korean local election, people vote for the Grand National Party, the result will be war”. On the 16th, the mention of “Seoul in a Deluge of Fire” was followed by the threat of war on the 10th.
It is rare that North Korea is so involved in local elections. Strong opposition to the opposition party increased after the declaration to “Build an association for Anti-conservatives in South Korea” in a joint editorial article early this year.
Park Young Su, who participated in the working-level talks for a special envoy exchange between the two Koreas said on March 3, 2004, that, “If war occurs, Seoul will be engulfed in flames”. The South Korean public seethed over the statement.
After the statement was issued, North Korea concluded that, “South Koreans are afraid of war”.
Thus, North Korea is trying to make use of the statement in regard to the local elections as well.
Hwang Jang Yop, the former international secretary of (North) Korea Workers’ Party, said that, “North Korea is taking a strategy that indirectly helps the ruling party by attacking the Grand National Party that North Korea is against, not by praising the ruling party that North Korea favors.”
