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Kim Jong-un puts troops on 'war footing' after two Koreas exchange artillery fire Kim Jong-un puts troops on 'war footing' after two Koreas exchange artillery fire
(about 5 hours later)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered his frontline troops on to a war footing from Friday, as military tensions with South Korea soared following a rare exchange of artillery shells across their heavily fortified border. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has put his troops on a war footing and threatened “indiscriminate strikes” on the South, prompting “deep concern” in Washington over the latest rise in tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The North’s official KCNA news agency said the move came during an emergency meeting late on Thursday of the powerful central military commission (CMC) of which Kim is the chair. Kim said on Thursday evening his troops were in a “quasi-state of war” and warned of further military action unless South Korea stopped broadcasting cross-border propaganda and ended its “psychological warfare” against the North within 48 hours.
During the meeting, Kim ordered frontline, combined units of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) to “enter a wartime state” from 5pm (9.30am BST) on Friday. The troops should be “fully battle-ready to launch surprise operations” while the entire frontline should be placed in a “semi-war state”, KCNA quoted Kim as saying. The deadline for the ultimatum is understood to expire at 5pm on Saturday.
The warning comes after the two countries exchanged artillery fire across their heavily armed border on Thursday.
Related: South Korea fires at North Korea in retaliation for loudspeaker attackRelated: South Korea fires at North Korea in retaliation for loudspeaker attack
The CMC meeting came hours after the two Koreas traded artillery fire on Thursday, pushing already elevated cross-border tensions to dangerously high levels. The two Koreas have been divided by the heavily armed demilitarised zone since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war. That conflict ended with an armistice, but not a peace treaty, meaning the countries are still technically at war.
North Korea followed up with an ultimatum sent via a military hotline that gave the South 48 hours to dismantle loudspeakers blasting propaganda messages across the border or face further military action. The ultimatum expires at 5pm on Saturday. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Friday that Kim, the third-generation dictator of North Korea’s founding dynasty, told an emergency meeting of the ruling party’s central military commission on Thursday night that troops would “enter a wartime state” and be prepared to carry out “indiscriminate strikes” against the South.
Seoul began blasting anti-North Korean propaganda from loudspeakers on the border on 10 August, resuming a tactic that both sides had stopped in 2004. South Korean president Park Geun-hye told defence officials to “react firmly” to North Korean provocations, according to a spokesman. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted the North Korean state broadcaster as saying: “Commanders of the Korean People’s Army were hastily dispatched to the frontline troops to command military operations to destroy psychological warfare tools if the enemy does not stop propaganda broadcasts within 48 hours and prepare [for] the enemy’s possible counteractions.”
“Our military has stepped up monitoring and is closely watching North Korean military movements,” the South’s defence ministry said. North Korea has issued similar threats, usually to coincide with South Korea’s joint annual military drills with the US. Seoul and Washington say the exercises are strictly defensive, but North Korea regards them as a rehearsal for an invasion.
The defence ministry dismissed the threat from the North and said the broadcasts would continue. Neither side had reported any damage or casualties by early Friday morning. Thursday’s exchange of artillery fire was prompted by Pyongyang’s threat to destroy loudspeakers positioned along the southern side of the border that started broadcasting high-decibel anti-North Korean propaganda earlier this month for the first time since 2004.
Seoul said the broadcasts recommenced in retaliation for a landmine explosion that seriously injured two South Korean soldiers while they were out on patrol.
South Korean troops have been placed on maximum alert, while the president, Park Geun-hye, chaired an emergency meeting of her National Security Council and ordered a “stern response” to any further provocations.
North Korea first fired a single round believed to be from an anti-aircraft gun, which landed in a South Korean border town on Thursday afternoon, Seoul said.
About 20 minutes later, several more artillery shells fell on the southern side of the DMZ. South Korea responded with dozens of 155mm artillery rounds, according to South Korean defence officials.
The exchange stopped there, but the North’s army warned in a message that it would take further military action if South Korea did not take down the loudspeakers within 48 hours.
North Korea, which initially denied firing at the South, later said the South Korean shells landed near four military posts but caused no injuries. There were no reports of injuries in the South, but about 2,000 people were evacuated from towns near the western border area.
In response, South Korea’s military said North Korea must refrain from engaging in “rash acts” or face strong punishment, according to Yonhap.
Defence officials said the loudspeaker broadcasts would continue, despite Pyongyang’s threats.
South Korea raised its military readiness to its highest level. Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Jeon Ha-kyu told a televised news conference that South Korea was ready to respond to any further North Korean provocations.
In a letter sent on Friday to North Korea’s general staff department of the Korean People’s Army, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said: “We are urging the North to completely give up reckless acts,” Kyodo quoted the defence ministry in Seoul as saying.
“We are ready to strongly retaliate as a self-defence measure and all responsibilities that may arise from it will be fully on the North.”
US and UN officials said they were deeply concerned and were closely monitoring the situation.
The US state department urged Pyongyang to avoid provoking any further escalation and said it remained “steadfast” in its commitment to defending its ally South Korea, which hosts 28,500 US troops.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said Tokyo was “very concerned” about tensions on the Korean peninsula, but the defence minister, Gen Nakatani, said there were no signs of developments that could have an immediate impact on Japan’s security.
While cross-border skirmishes are not unheard of, most Korea watchers play down their potential to trigger a full-scale war. Moments of heightened tension are often characterised by threats and counter-threats, but rarely descend into serious violence.
There are exceptions, however.
The North recently declared that the cross-border broadcasts amounted to a “declaration of war” that would be met with “an all-out military action of justice” if they were not stopped.
Pyongyang claims that Seoul fabricated evidence of the landmines that injured two soldiers and demanded video proof. One soldier lost both legs and the other one leg.
In October 2014, North Korean troops opened fire after South Korean activists launched balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border. South Korea returned fire, but no casualties were reported. Later the same month, border guards from both countries exchanged gunfire.
In 2010, North Korea bombed the South Korean border island, killing four people. Earlier the same year the North was blamed for launching a torpedo attack on a South Korean naval vessel that killed 46 sailors.