On Patrol

It’s been a while, but North Korea is showing it can still talk the talk. Whether it will ever try to walk the walk, is far less certain.

The secretive communist nation promised to reduce South Korea’s government “to ashes” in a statement carried by its state media arm Monday, according to USA Today. This comes on the heels of the North’s unsuccessful missile launch a few weeks ago.

While the North has always been happy to talk about its capabilities, it hasn’t shown it can do much on the large-scale threat level. That perception was reinforced with its recent failed missile test. However, the country has long sought nuclear capabilities, and there is concern that it could attempt to test a nuclear device again, as it has after past missile launches.

The North was blamed for sinking the Cheonan—a South Korean destroyer—in 2010, killing 46 South Korean sailors.

Read more in “North Korean military warns of ‘special actions’ soon.”