North Korea vows ‘sledgehammer blows’ for South Korea’s protests

Seoul needs to apologize for the anti-North Korea protests it staged on Monday, else face devastating attacks, Pyongyang ministers vowed.

Military officials promised to rain “sledgehammer blows” for the South’s protests that came during the North’s celebration of its founding leader’s birthday, The Guardian reported.

The North was particularly angered by South Korean protesters’ burning of portraits of North Korea’s leaders, The Guardian said.

“Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now,” North Korea’s state-run media reported, citing military leaders of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK. “The military demonstration of the DPRK’s revolutionary armed forces will be powerful sledgehammer blows at all hostile forces hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership.”

North Korea has issued a string of threats against South Korea, Japan and the United States in recent weeks. The North cooled its rhetoric on Monday, for the birthday celebration.

North Korea is angry about new sanctions imposed by the United Nations for its latest round of nuclear arms testing in February.