The increasingly war-like rhetoric hit Seoul’s financial markets, prompting financial policymakers to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
“Should the South side’s intrusions into the territorial waters of our side continue, the DPRK (North Korea) will put into force practical military measures to defend its waters as it had already clarified and the south side will be held fully accountable for all the ensuing consequences,” a senior official was quoted as saying.
The furious war of words — the North referred to the South’s government as “military gangsters, seized by fever for a war” — follows a report by international investigators last week which accused the hermit north of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors.
On Monday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak cut trade with his impoverished neighbour.
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