Kim Jong Il Orders Military to Get Ready for Combat (Update1)
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By Bomi Lim
May 25 (Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ordered the country?s military to get ready for combat in a message televised nationwide last week following South Korea?s announcement that North Korea torpedoed the South?s warship.
The message was broadcast on May 20 by O Kuk Ryol, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, according to the website of North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, a Seoul-based group run by defectors from the communist country. Yonhap News agency reported on the group?s posting earlier today.
While Kim doesn?t want war, North Korea is ready to counter any attacks from South Korea, O said in the message, according to the group, which cited an unidentified person in the country. North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity is one of the Seoul-based agencies to first report on North Korea?s currency revaluation late last year.
Officials at South Korea?s Defense Ministry weren?t immediately reachable for comment.
The South Korean won declined as much as 4.3 percent to 1,272.45 against the dollar after the Yonhap report.
South Korean defense-related stocks rallied. Speco Co., a military installation parts developer, rose 12 percent to 5,360 won. Victek Co., which makes electronic warfare equipment, surged 7.8 percent to 4,420 won.
South Korea?s President Lee Myung Bak said yesterday the country will push for United Nations censure against North Korea for the March 26 sinking of a naval ship, which killed 46 sailors. A multinational team concluded on May 20 that North Korea fired a torpedo to split apart the 1,200-ton Cheonan.
Tensions are rising in the Korean peninsula following the report, with both sides threatening counter-measures should they come under attack. South Korea plans to define North Korea as its ?main enemy? when it maps out military strategy, Yonhap reported today, citing a government official it didn?t identify.
:thefinger