North Korea reportedly threatens — by fax — to attack South Korea 'without notice'

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Menacing language from North Korea is nothing new. Neither is its office technology.

A South Korean news agency reported Friday that the North has threatened a “merciless” attack without notice in response to anti-North rallies this week — and that it sent the warning by fax.

It’s the latest provocation from North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, who, at 30 years old, was born not long before the fax entered its golden age of curling paper, smudgy printing and shrieking modems.

The threat was sent by the North Korean military, according to the Yonhap news agency. It arrived, apparently without a paper jam, at the South Korean National Security Council.

NBC News was unable to independently verify the report.

The military apparently condemned rallies by several conservative groups and North Korean defectors that took place in the South on Tuesday, saying they insulted North Korea’s “highest dignity,” referring to Kim.

The rallies were held on the second anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, the younger Kim’s father, who was known as the Dear Leader and ruled the North from 1994 until his death in 2011. At the demonstrations, to protest authoritarian rule and North Korean human rights abuses, some people burned photos of the younger Kim.

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