North Korea vowed merciless revenge against its neighbor, the South, after a Seoul military official suggested the communist state should simply ’disappear.’

North Korea vowed merciless revenge against its neighbor, the South, after a Seoul military official suggested the communist state should ‘simply disappear.’

Speaking to reporters in Seoul on Monday, Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok had argued that North Korea barely deserved to be regarded as a proper country and that it would be best if it "vanished as soon as possible."

The North's powerful National Defense Commission accused Kim of speaking for South Korean President Park Geun-Hye to inspire an "all-out" inter-Korean confrontation.

It warned that North Korea would take strong retaliatory action against anyone who slanders its leadership and system, describing Park and South Korean military officials as "the root of evil".

"Our army and people will wipe them out entirely with the most merciless and thorough striking force," the commission said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The North's official website Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the state media, warned earlier that Kim should pay a "steep" price for his remarks.