NKorea denounces Christmas tree as SKorea psychological warfare
21:06, 21 December 2010
TOKYO. December 21. KAZINFORM For the first time in the past seven years, South Korea lit up on Tuesday a 30-meter-tall steel Christmas tree with 100,000 colourful light bulbs that will be visible to North Koreans living near the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas, Seoul media reported; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
The tree was installed at the altitude of 165 meters over the sea level so that it could be seen from the North Korean city of Kaesong. Pyongyang has already blasted it as a propaganda move and has threatened to retaliate with the use of fire.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin said on Tuesday that there is always a possibility of provocations by North Korea. "We will hand a daring punishment so as to remove the source of artillery fire" in case of a possible shelling of the Christmas tree from North Korea, he said.
A source from the South Korean armed forces told Yonghap news agency that "ahead of the ceremony to light the tree, the border had been patrolled by a bigger number of North Korean troops than usual".