North Korea video shows nuclear strike on Washington

SEOUL — North Korea released a propaganda video Saturday (March 26) that depicts a nuclear strike on Washington, along with a warning to “American imperialists” not to provoke the North.

The 4-minute video clip, titled “Last Chance”, uses computer animation to show what looks like an intercontinental ballistic missile flying through the earth’s atmosphere before slamming into Washington, near what appears to be the Lincoln Memorial. A nuclear explosion follows.

“If the American imperialists provok  us a bit, we will not hesitate to slap them with a pre-emptive nuclear strike,” read the Korean subtitles in the video, which was uploaded to the YouTube channel of DPRK Today, a North Korean website. “The United States must choose! It’s up to you whether the nation called the United States exists on this planet or not.”

Such remarks are in line with recent threats and assertions from North Korea about its nuclear and missile capabilities.

The North recently threatened a nuclear strike against Washington in retaliation for new UN sanctions, which were imposed this month to punish North Korea for its most recent tests of a nuclear device and a long-range rocket.

The new video mostly chronicles what it calls “humiliating defeats” suffered by the United States at North Korea’s hands over the years, including the North’s capture in 1968 of a US ship, the Pueblo, and the shooting down of a US helicopter in 1994.

It goes on to depict a barrage of artillery, rockets and missiles * including a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which North Korea recently claimed to have successfully tested – and it ends with the American flag in flames.

Hatred for America has long been a prominent theme in North Korean propaganda, and as the North’s nuclear and missile programs have advanced in recent years, a sense of empowerment through those weapons has become another key element of the messaging.

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