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Seoul to Troops: Stop Using Kim Pics for Target Practice

Cadets will be told to stop defacing images

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 1, 2011 8:28 AM CDT

(Newser) – In North Korea, images of Kim Jong Il and heir apparent are treated as holy icons. In the South, soldiers use them for target practice. Or at least they did until local media showed them doing so. Now Seoul has ordered cadets to stop decorating their rifle ranges with the Kims, in an apparent bid to keep tensions from boiling over again, reports AFP. One military official said troops were merely "boosting battle spirit."

No more: "The ministry will send a directive to the military to refrain from using such targets and to use standard targets," said a military spokesman. (Click to read about the North's recent good-will gesture of freeing an American.)

Kim Jong Un, right, along with his father and North Korea leader Kim Jong Il, left, at a military parade. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Protesters march with defaced portraits of North Korea leader Kim Jong Il, left, and his son Kim Jong Un last year. South Korean soldiers did something similar for target practice. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

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Seoul to Troops: Stop Using Kim Pics for Target Practice

Cadets will be told to stop defacing images

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