A Unification Ministry official says that the ministry is paying attention to the fact that North Korea issued a "spokesman's statement" for the first time on Wednesday.

The North issued a statement by its spokesman which threatened to carry out a military action against some South Korean military units' usage of extreme slogans, such as "Let's behead and dismember Kim Jong-il and Jong-un."

The ministry said that there have been three similar government statements issued by North Korea in the past. The first was in 1993 during the first nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula. North Korea said it would withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in that year. The second statement was made when South Korea resumed diplomatic ties with Japan in 1999. The third was in 2003 during the second nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.