North Korea has vowed to execute South Korean reporters over their review of a book about life in Kim Jong-Un’s country, according to the Associated Press.
Korean Central News Agency aired a state court statement that expressed displeasure with two South Korean newspaper journalists over their reviews of a book called, “North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors.”
The North Korean court also “sentenced to death” the newspaper’s presidents and promised to “track down to the end and cut off the dirty windpipes” of the journalists responsible, according to the AP.
The book, written by British authors, “viciously defamed and distorted” the country’s realities, according to the court. However, the authors were not directly threatened by North Korea. Former Economist reporter Daniel Tudor and Reuters correspondent James Pearson penned the book.
North Korea has threatened South Korean journalists in the past but doesn’t always follow through on the tough talk. Back in 2012, North Korea was upset over reports on children’s festivals occurring in the country and warned that its military was in place to attack specific South Korean news organizations that covered the story.
The book isn’t North Korea’s only issue these days. President Donald Trump hinted at retaliation on Tuesday morning, saying that “all options are on the table” after North Korea launched off a missile that flew directly over Japan.
“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Trump said in an official statement released Tuesday. “All options are on the table.”
Trump said that North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” by launching the missile over Japan.