An intense package of “emergency measures” has been put in place by the North Korean authorities as Pyongyang’s rhetoric about engaging in a “second Korean War” in response to ROK-US military exercises (that started today, the 11th) and the latest UN Security Council resolution grows more vocal.
Inside sources have informed Daily NK in recent days that the North Korean people are feeling an unusual, more troubling atmosphere than in recent memory. They say this is because the authorities are particularly emphasizing that North Korea is now a nuclear-armed state so the danger of an attack by the U.S. has grown.
A North Pyongan Province source stated on the 10th, “The atmosphere here is that we will soon be involved in a ‘defensive war’. Orders handed down to people’s units and workplaces have said that we must reluctantly prepare for a war to protect ourselves, and this is because the Americans have placed unjust sanctions on us and moved aircraft carriers into the East and West seas to prepare for an attack.”
The source went on, “The authorities have been using the Third Broadcast to give tips on how to act at the time of a nuclear attack, and teaching people about emergency evacuations and how to respond at the time.”
“Military units have been told that ‘when the fireworks start then the enemy is on the road to final destruction, and on that day the reunification of the Fatherland will be complete’,” he also noted.
According to the source, in addition to reserve force training drills, the local People’s Committee, post office, provincial radio broadcaster and newspaper have all been moved to underground locations as part of the tension-raising process.
“Old people here say that the atmosphere is as it was at the time of the USS Pueblo incident,” the source concluded. “Some people are even trying to get emergency food stores together in case something happens.”
