(CNN) — North Korea is raising the temperature on its neighbors, saying in its latest threat that it would not give any warning before any attack on South Korea.
“Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now,” Pyongyang said in a statement published Tuesday by its official news agency, KCNA.
North Korea said it was responding to what it called insults from the “puppet authorities” in the South, claiming that there had been a rally against North Korea in Seoul — a rally it called a “monstrous criminal act.”
The renewed menacing rhetoric came a day after North Koreans celebrated the birthday of their country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, who launched the Korean War.
Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, said the latest threat from the North was regrettable.
Amid concern that Pyongyang could carry out a missile test, Kim Min-seok said South Korea continued to closely monitor the North’s military movements.
Also Tuesday, a U.S. Marine helicopter participating in annual joint military exercises in South Korea made a hard landing in a province that borders North Korea, the U.S. military said.
The drills by South Korean and U.S. forces have upset North Korea, as they have done in previous years. Pyongyang has suggested that the routine exercises, which are scheduled to continue until the end of the month, are tantamount to a declaration of war.
The 21 personnel on board the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter, which was making routine flights as part of the exercises when it came down, were taken to a hospital at the United States’ Yongsan Garrison in South Korea, the military said in a statement.
Fifteen have been released from the hospital, and the other six are in stable condition, the statement said.
The military said it would carry out an investigation “to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident.” The five crew members of the helicopter are from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, stationed in Okinawa, Japan.
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