North Korea threatens to wipe out Manhattan

Just a week after threatening attacks on the United States and South Korea, North Korea is now threatening a specific target, in this case, Manhattan. 

Much of the posturing follows weeks of escalating rhetoric from North Korea after its initial claim of a successful hydrogen bomb test in early January. 

The state-run media outlet DPRK Today issued the statement that read, in part: 

“Our hydrogen bomb is much bigger than the one developed by the Soviet Union... “If this H-bomb were to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile and fall on Manhattan in New York City, all the people there would be killed immediately and the city would burn down to ashes."

The threat is just the latest in a string of threats from the country.

At the beginning of March, North Korea fired missiles into the sea in response to U.N. sanctions regarding that January test and later said, "We sternly reject the U.N. sanctions as we view them to be the most reckless provocation."

North Korea then issued a threat against the U.S. and South Korea, saying, "If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment."

On Thursday, the country responded to sanctions from South Korea by claiming it would liquidate all remaining South Korean assets at former cooperative projects in the North. 

The notoriously closed-door country also claimed to have developed a nuclear warhead small enough to be launched on a ballistic missile but, as with many claims from North Korea, the international community expressed skepticism about the development. 

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Meanwhile, the country is dealing with the apparent loss of a military submarine after losing contact with the vessel during a recent exercise. 

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