N. Korea warns Seoul of 'serious threat' over missile remark

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea’s defense minister a “scum-like guy” for talking about preemptive strikes on the North and warned the South may face “a serious threat.”

SEOUL, South Korea -- The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called South Korea’s defense minister a “scum-like guy” for talking about preemptive strikes on the North, warning Sunday that the South may face “a serious threat.”

Kim Yo Jong’s statement came amid heightened tensions between the rival Koreas over the North’s spate of weapons tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years.

The ICBM test that broke North Korea’s four-year moratorium on big weapons tests was a huge embarrassment to South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in, who has pushed hard to achieve greater reconciliation between the countries and find a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear crisis.

During a visit to the country's strategic missile command on Friday, South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook said that South Korea has the ability and readiness to launch precision strikes on North Korea if it detects the North intends to fire missiles at South Korea. Seoul has long maintained such a preemptive military strategy to cope with North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threats, but it was still highly unusual for a senior Seoul official under the Moon administration to publicly discuss it.