N. Korea threatens strike against Seoul

SEOUL: North Korea has threatened “merciless punishment” against South Korea if it goes ahead with plans to open a UN field office in Seoul for monitoring the North’s human rights record.

The Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), a state body handling inter-Korean affairs, said late Monday that the office was an “unforgivable provocation” and would become a “first-strike target.”