Just yesterday the Russian foreign ministry issued a stark warning to the international community that"the situation on the Korean Peninsula is on the brink of war," adding that "Kim seeks to raise the stakes before any talks."
Of course, these warnings followed the announcement earlier this week that the US and South Korea launched their largest aerial drills yet, less than a week after North Korea tested its new Hwasong-15 missile which military observers said has the capacity to strike Washington DC, or nearly any other location in the continental US.
As we reported Sunday, the annual US-South Korean drills, called Vigilant Ace, will run until Friday. Six F-22 Raptor stealth fighters will be deployed among the more than 230 aircraft taking part. Not surprisingly, the North has condemned the exercises as yet another provocation.
And while continuous warnings such as these go mostly unnoticed by Americans, at least one local newspaper in the Jilin province of China on North Korea's northeastern border figures its better to be safe than sorry and issued a helpful guide on what residents should do in the event of a nuclear attack. Per Bloomberg:
An official Chinese newspaper near North Korea has published a page of articles on coping with nuclear attacks, in a sign of growing anxiety over Kim Jong Un’s weapons program.
The Jilin Daily -- the government newspaper of Jilin province on North Korea’s northeastern border -- published articles on page 5 explaining how nuclear weapons work and the damage they cause. The paper used cartoons to offer advice on what residents can do about radiation exposure and provided instructions on how to respond during an attack.
One article listed essential items for emergency kits, including fire extinguishers and breathing masks. Another warned that air raids could mean nuclear, chemical and biological attacks, and used the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima as an example.
The cartoon images illustrated how residents should clean their bodies, boots and coats after being exposed to radiation. They suggested taking iodine tablets, if there is radiation nearby.
Meanwhile, the paper even offered some helpful cartoons for residents looking to prep for the nuclear apocalypse. And while our Mandarin is not great, the cartoons seem to imply that so long as you cover your face with a cloth and down some iodine tablets...you'll be just fine.
And, for those who like to be extra safe, the Jilin Daily also provides these helpful tips which presumably suggest you should clean your ears, take a shower and vomit as necessary.
Then again, we hear that taking "giant panic breaths" of pure oxygen also works well for scenarios such as these...