North Korea denies artillery firing and mocks South Korea’s detection capabilities

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea’s military exercise during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 6

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un mocked South Korea’s ability to detect weapons launches by the North yesterday, as she denied Seoul’s claim that North Korea fired artillery shells into the sea the previous day.

South Korea’s military quickly dismissed her statement as “a low-level psychological warfare” and warned that it will make a stern response to any provocations by North Korea.

South Korea’s military earlier said North Korea fired shells near the rivals’ disputed western sea boundary for a second consecutive day on Saturday. The military said North Korea fired more than 60 rounds on Saturday, a day after launching more than 200 shells.

North Korea acknowledged it performed artillery firings on Friday but said it didn’t fire a single round on Saturday.

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said yesterday that North Korea only detonated blasting powder simulating the sound of its coastal artillery at the seashore to test the South Korean military’s detection capabilities.

“The result was clear as we expected. They misjudged the blasting sound as the sound of gunfire and conjectured it as a provocation. And they even made a false and impudent statement that the shells dropped north” of the sea boundary, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.

“I cannot but say that (South Korean) people are very pitiful as they entrust security to such blind persons and offer huge taxes to them,” she said. “It is better 10 times to entrust security to a dog with a developed sense of hearing and smell.”

Calling South Korea’s military “gangsters” and “clowns in military uniforms,” Kim Yo Jong suggested its possible future miscalculation of North Korean moves could cause an accidental clash between the rivals, jeopardizing the safety of Seoul, a city of 10 million people which is only an hour’s drive from the land border. HYUNG-JIN KIM, SEOUL, MDT/AP