North Korea dismissed South Korea’s “improper remarks” over the country’s plans to hold a military parade before the Winter Olympics begin this week, North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported.
On Saturday, North Korea described the South Korean calls to cancel the military parade a ploy by “wicked, narrow-minded and tricky” politicians who engage with “pro-U.S. flunkeyism.”
North Korea plans to show off dozens of long-range missiles during a February 8 parade, sources with deep knowledge of North Korea’s intentions told CNN last week.
The parade is expected to include dozens of intercontinental-range Hwasong-15 missiles, which the North Koreans test-fired for the first time in late November, the sources said.
The display of “hundreds” of missiles and rockets would be an attempt “to scare the hell out of the Americans,” one of the sources said.
The back-and-forth between North and South is testing what has been hailed as a breakthrough in inter-Korean talks – the North’s decision to participate in the Winter OIympics.
But North Korea said on Saturday that South Korea’s critical stand on the parade was taken by anti-reunification forces.
It’s a point of view that North Korea says is going “against the desire of the nation and the trend of the times” and would “only bring about the consequences of souring the successful opening of the Winter Olympics,” the newspaper reported.
CNN’s Will Ripley, Elise Labott and and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
