In Poster, North Korea Boasts of Ship Sinking

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: July 16, 2010





SEOUL, South Korea — A propaganda poster recently smuggled out of North Korea depicts the North Korean military smashing an enemy warship in half, a scene evocative of the sinking of a South Korean warship earlier this year.

Enlarge This Image

An image of the smuggled poster.




Although the poster did not identify the ship in the poster as the Cheonan, the South Korean corvette sunk in March, it raised suspicions that North Korea may have begun bragging about the sinking for domestic propaganda purposes, said Radio Free Asia, which released a photo of the poster this week.


With the caption, “If they attack, we will smash them in a single blow,” the poster shows the red fist of a heroic North Korean sailor splitting an enemy ship. The Cheonan was split in two and sunk in waters near the disputed western sea border between the two Koreas. Forty-six sailors were killed.


A South Korean-led team of international investigators concluded in May that the ship was destroyed by a North Korean torpedo attack, though North Korea has vehemently denied involvement.


But North Korea secretly awarded medals to the crew of a North Korean submarine and boasted of its victory during propaganda lectures for its military and party elites, according to recent reports by South Korean Web sites that collect news from sources inside the North.


The government in Seoul could not confirm those reports, and the North’s official news media have repeatedly accused the South and the United States of fabricating the Cheonan incident to raise tensions.


Radio Free Asia, which is supported by the United States, said it obtained the photo of the poster from a Chinese businessman who recently returned from North Korea.


It remained unclear whether the poster was made before or after the Cheonan sinking, or whether it depicted an earlier North-South naval clash and was distributed now to put up a fierce face amid rising tensions with the West.


Posters and public slogans are a major tool of propaganda in the isolated North. A common poster shows North Korean missiles raining down on what looks like the Capitol in Washington. Its caption says: “If they start a war of aggression, we will first destroy the Americans.”