Giant Christmas tree stokes tensions on Korean peninsula

[WestVirginiaRebel]

UK Telegraph:

South Korea has lit a massive steel Christmas tree that overlooks the world's most heavily armed border and is within sight of North Korea, prompting threats of attack from the communist state.

The lighting of the tree after a seven-year hiatus marked a pointed return to a tradition that is condemned in Pyongyang as propaganda. The provocative ceremony - which needed government permission to take place - was also a sign that President Lee Myung-bak's administration is serious about countering the North's aggression with measures of its own in the wake of an artillery attack that killed four South Koreans last month.

North Korea, officially atheist and with only a handful of sanctioned churches in Pyongyang with services for foreigners, warned that lighting the tree would constitute a "dangerous, rash act" with the potential to trigger a war.

As a precaution, dozens of armed troops took up position around the site during the lighting ceremony. Ambulances and fire trucks were parked nearby. Instructions placed on chairs at the ceremony advised participants to take cover in case of an attack from North Korea.

"The danger of the enemy's threat still exists," the leaflet read, suggesting that they hide behind concrete walls, crouch down between chairs and move quickly to shelters in case of an attack.

The event took place uninterrupted.
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Merry Christmas, Mini-Me!

[Casino67]

Interesting that the 'newspaper' didn't print a photo of the tree. Blokes are cowards.