[Yonhap News Photo]
North Korea staged a simulated guerrilla attack on South Korea's presidential residence as President Park Geun-hye was impeached by parliament and put herself into a secluded life, waiting for a court verdict.
Pictures released by Pyongyang's propaganda mill on Sunday showed a copy of South Korea's presidential Blue House being engulfed in flames under an attack by paratroopers and commandos.
The drill involving artillery shelling and infiltration was aimed at destroying specific targets such as the South's presidential office, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was seen smiling from a watchtower. KCNA quoted Kim as saying: "With a broad smile on his face, 'Well done, the enemy troops will have no space to hide themselves, far from taking any counteraction.'"
[Yonhap News Photo]
The drill's date and place were not disclosed, but Pyongyang published it after parliament in Seoul voted for the impeachment of Park, who took office in early 2013 as South Korea's first female president.
Impeachment means the president should stay away from all state affairs, but rally organizers showed no mercy, vowing to continue protests until Park goes to prison regardless of the outcome of ruling by the constitutional court, which will review the legitimacy of Park's impeachment in a time-consuming process.
At a rally Saturday in Seoul, hundreds of thousands of citizens marched near the presidential residence. Some protesters danced in a festive mood to celebrate the impeachment.
The parliamentary vote followed a series of anti-government protests that have seen millions of citizens taking to the streets in an unprecedented demonstration of people power.
Since late October, the scandal has put South Korea into a political quagmire, paralyzing state affairs and aggravating economic woes. But Park has refused to step down by herself.
[Yonhap News Photo]
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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