North Korean state media appear to have released another bizarre piece of propaganda. The latest film clip features a squad of trained military German shepherds as they run an obstacle course, jump through hoops of fire and maul an effigy of South Korean defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin.
Soldiers also shoot paper targets that bear the likeness of Kim Kwan-Jin, who one soldier appears to call "a bastard and a defective human being."
Later in the video, another individual comments on the escalated tension on the Korean peninsula, stating that "it is not a matter of whether we will have a war or not but whether it will take place today or tomorrow." The Huffington Post independently verified the translation from Korean.
At the end of the film clip, an effigy of Kim Kwan-Jin is destroyed with a rocket launcher.
Tensions in the region remain high following weeks of threats by Pyongyang, which were spurred by increased sanctions against the secretive nation, and joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. North Korea attracted renewed concern in December with the test of a medium-range missile, followed by a nuclear test in February.
North Korea's bellicose rhetoric, which has included threats of nuclear strikes on the United States, has at times been accompanied by strange propaganda that has, in turn, been ridiculed by Western media. In March, an image of a marine training exercise released by North Korean state media and circulated briefly by the AFP was retracted after it was revealed that the photo may have been manipulated.
Some news commentators have warned against taking lightly threats made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but not without caveats. "Mr. Kim may well, in his propagandist paranoia, be capable of a mad strike," John Kampfner wrote in The Telegraph. "Yet the idea that a state that can barely keep the lights on constitutes a threat ... is absurd."
Although Washington showed some restraint in light of recent tensions, postponing the test of a Minuteman III missile last week, the situation remains volatile. China confirmed Sunday that it conducted live-fire drills near its border with North Korea.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang pulled North Korean workers out of the Kaesong industrial complex, where they work side by side with South Koreans, amid rumors of a nuclear test, according to the Telegraph. South Korea on Monday dismissed rumors of an imminent nuclear test by North Korea.
Related
Before You Go
