Kim Jong Un's North Korea At War With South? Pyongyang Is Kidnapping, Brainwashing POWs, Abductees' Group Claims

North Korea has been kidnapping citizens of South Korea and making them prisoners of war in an attempt to make them sympathize with Pyongyang's political ideologies, according to a new report. A group based in Seoul that advocates for those who have been kidnapped confirmed the activity, local news agency Yonhap reported Monday.

"The latest indoctrination training comes with the Ministry of People's Security taking charge of summoning POWs and their families and other former South Koreans living in the country so they can be mentally fortified," said Choi Sung-yong, the head of the Abductees' Family Union.

The North kidnapping and brainwashing people from the South was something that Pyongyang did regularly about three decades ago but began resuming the practice last year, Choi added. The move may be in response to a growing number of North Koreans defecting to the South.

North Korea had previously established prison camps during the Korean War in part to force people who were kidnapped from the South to adapt to Pyongyang's strict set of political beliefs. The camps were ultimately closed in 1986. It was unclear if the North has re-established those camps.

The news came the same day North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was expected to order the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, according to South Korea, which said the launch was likely not "imminent" but certainly warranted monitoring.

Rhetoric between the two neighboring nations has been at a fever pitch, with the two exchanging aggressive military posturing. Just last week, North Korea warned it would retaliate in response to the joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. Marines from earlier this month.

"... If the South Korean warmongers ignite a war against the DPRK, totally counting on the U.S., the revolutionary forces of the DPRK will wipe out the aggressors to the last man by fully displaying their tremendous might," North Korea's Minju Joson newspaper, quoted by the KCNA news agency, said at the time.

But it's not just the South that had North Korea's vitriol directed at it. Kim has amassed enough nuclear arms powerful enough to reach Los Angeles, according to a former high ranking North Korean official. Kim has the ability to press "the button on these dangerous weapons when he thinks that his rule and his dynasty is threatened," Thae Yong-ho, North Korea's former deputy ambassador in London who defected from Pyongyang, told the BBC last week. "He knows that if he loses the power then it is his last day so he may do anything, even to attack Los Angeles, because once people know that in any way you will be killed, then you will do anything. That is the human being's normal reaction," Thae said.