World

S Korea says N Korea must disappear soon

AP

South Korea is continuing an escalating rhetorical battle on the Korean Peninsula, with an official saying rival North Korea ‘must disappear soon.’

South Korean defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok also said on Monday that North Korea isn’t a real country and exists for the benefit of only one person, a reference to dictator Kim Jong Un.He says the North has no human rights or public freedoms.The comments followed a series of sexist and racist slurs by North Korea against the leaders of South Korea and the United States. Pyongyang’s state media likened South Korean President Park Geun-hye to an “old prostitute” and US President Barack Obama to a “monkey” in recent dispatches.

Pyongyang’s rhetoric intensified after Obama and Park met in Seoul last month.