“Meet coercion with hard blows”

To hear the North Koreans tell it, everything is our fault.  The U.S. and its so-called "hostile nuclear first strike policy" are labelled as the cause of the North’s intransigence.  Kim Jong-Il’s government routinely complains of U.S. "aggression" or "intimidation."

This poster, which comes straight from the reclusive Communist country, is a perfect example of Pyongyang’s propaganda line.  It was released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on January 31, 2003.

While the photo speaks for itself, the Korean text, once translated, reveals something of the North’s mindset.  It reads: "Meet coercion with hard blows.  Meet castigation with merciless punishment!"  The strident language is part and parcel of the Pyongyang’s propaganda effort.  Visitors report that the North’s signs at the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) on the Korean Peninsula routinely carry messages such as "Our General is Number One," "Kim Jong-Il is the Sunshine of the 21st Century," and "Oppose America."

What’s more, news reports out of Pyongyang indicate that the government there runs museums documenting alleged U.S. war crimes during the Korean War, and that state-run TV portrays people in the West – in contrast to the North Koreans –  as poor, hungry, and deprived by their government.

Original North Korean Poster