China on Wednesday dismissed North Korea's threat to scrap the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War. "The armistice has played an important role in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

On Tuesday, North Korea threatened to use "precision nuclear strikes" to create a "sea of fire," the latest in a long line of similar threats.

As long ago as March 1994, when North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the North said "Seoul is not too far away. If a war breaks out, it will become a sea of fire."

North Korea's threats intensified after it conducted its first nuclear test in October of 2006.

On Mar 30, 2008, Pyongyang varied its rhetoric slightly by promising to turn South Korea into a "pile of ashes" if North Korea launched a preemptive strike. And on Feb. 19 this year, a week after North Korea conducted its third nuclear test, Pyongyang warned of "final destruction."

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