North Korea’s “State of War” Declarations – a Victim of Faulty Translation?

In the wake of the UN-issued sanctions on North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank in late March, there had been a flurry of statements issued by North Korea and the countries involved in the sanctions. Prior to that was North Korea’s third nuclear weapon testing in February. The latest news, aired around the world is that North Korea is “entering a state of war” with South Korea and its ally, the United States. Upon closer inspection, many critics believe that the statements suffered from incorrect or faulty translation and that these statements were not from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, nor were these reports official.

The pronouncements are threatening and alarming, to say the least. Will there be another war in the divided Korean Peninsula? Will it be a repeat of the three-year Korean War in the 1950s, where the total number of civilian casualties was about 2.5 million people?

Inconsistencies and inaccuracies with the translations

Several news agencies have reported on March 30 that North Korea was entering a “state of war” with South Korea. According to the “supposed” declaration from Pyongyang, and we quote:

“From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all
issues raised between the North and the South will be handled in accordance with wartime protocol.”

However, there were suggestions that emerged late on Saturday that these combative rhetoric might have been a result of “faulty translation.” Russian news agency Ria Novosti even made a qualifier in their online news report that included reference to the statement from North Korea and the [sic] “difficulties of translation.”

This is because accordingly, the original statement from North Korea emphasized that the North would “act in accordance with wartime laws if attacked and that “from that time (when attacked), the North-South relations will enter a state of war.”

The official position of North Korea, as interpreted from sourced materials from KCNA includes the following:

• “The DPRK’s revolutionary armed forces “would react” to the nuclear blackmail of the U.S with a nuclear attack that would be merciless. A U.S. war of aggression will be met with an all-out war of justice.”

• “The army and people of the DPRK are full of the spirit “to defend the country” just like in the 1950s.”

• “The countermeasures of the DPRK “to defend the sovereignty” are a manifestation of the firm will of its army and people “to defend the country” and socialism at the cost of their lives from the hostile forces’ aggression moves.”

• “The enemies will turn to ashes without having time to regret themselves over not paying due heed to the significant warning issued by the Supreme Command of KPA that they will have the hardest time with their destiny at stake the moment they make a provocation to ignite a war of aggression.”

What do all these mean? It means that North Korea will resort to strong countermeasures, “if and when they are provoked,” which is different from the earlier report that “it had already entered into a state of war.” They are saying that they are ready to defend and die for their country when needed.

North and South Korea still technically at war

There had been no signed peace treaty between North and South Korea even if the Korean War had ended in 1953. As such, the divided nation is still at war with each other. The Demilitarized Zone between the two is the world’s most heavily armed border.
Military exercises

The United States and South Korea hold large-scale military exercises each year, which involves 3,500 U.S. troops and 10,000 South Korean soldiers. This year, the drills started on March 11. Before the commencement of the military exercises, Pyongang had threatened the U.S. of pre-emptive strikes of the nuclear kind and sent out warnings that the country plans the termination of the Korean War Armistice Agreement. The North also announced that should the drills push through, they would execute retaliatory measures.

With the latest barrage of threatening statements purportedly issued by North Korea, the U.S. had dispatched on Thursday two B-2 stealth bombers with nuclear capability to do practice runs over South Korea. North Korea reacted to this by having their strategically-located rocket forces placed on standby mode, ready to strike South Korean and U.S. installations.