#KoreanWar:North Korea orders troops on war footing after exchanging fire with South.South Korea evacuation after shelling on western border.North Korea warns of war after exchange of fire with South
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North Korea orders troops on war footing after exchanging fire with South
North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his frontline troops to be on a
war footing, state media says, after an exchange of fire with the South
across their heavily fortified border.
Report said Mr Kim declared a "semi-state of war" at an emergency meeting late Thursday. It threatened action unless Seoul ends its anti-Pyongyang border broadcasts.
The North often uses fierce rhetoric when tensions rise and it has made similar declarations before.
New 's South Korea correspondent Steve Evans says that although this ritual of aggression often sees such language escalate to the firing of ammunition, this time the rhetoric is fiercer and and artillery shells are now in use.
Reported that Mr Kim had ordered that troops be "fully ready for any military operations at any time" from 17:00 Friday local time (01:30 GMT), at the emergency meeting of the central military commission.
Residents evacuated
Earlier, the North warned that it would take strong military action if the South does not end border propaganda broadcasts and dismantles the broadcast facilities "within 48 hours".However, in a separate letter Pyongyang said it was willing to resolve the issue even though it considers the broadcasts a declaration of war, South Korea Unification Ministry said.
The tensions were ratcheted up after North Korea on Thursday shelled across the border reportedly to protest the propaganda broadcasts which restarted after a hiatus of 11 years.
The South responded with artillery fire. There were no reported casualties.
South Korea ordered the evacuation of residents from an area of its western border.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
South Korea evacuation after shelling on western border
South
Korea has ordered the evacuation of residents from an area of its
western border after an exchange of fire with North Korea, reports say.
North
Korea fired a shell at a South Korean military unit on Thursday,
prompting the south to retaliate with several artillery rounds, the
South's defence ministry said.South Korea's National Security Council is due to hold an emergency session.
The western sea border has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas.
North Korea fired a projectile towards Yeoncheon, a town north-west of Seoul, at 15:52 local time (06:52 GMT), the defence ministry said.
Reports suggest the target could have been a loudspeaker broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages.
The South then fired "dozens of rounds of 155mm shells" towards where they thought the rocket was launched from, the ministry added in a statement.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage on either side.
The two sides have exchanged cross-border fire several times in recent years.
A local official told news agency that about 80 residents in Yeoncheon had been evacuated, with other residents in the area also urged to take shelter.
The latest incident comes amid heightened tensions between the North and South.
Seoul has blamed the North for planting a landmine that injured two South Korea soldiers earlier this month.
Since then, the sides have begun blasting propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers along the border - restarting a practice both had suspended back in 2004.
South Korea and the US also began annual joint military exercises on Monday - they describe the drills as defensive, but North Korea calls them a rehearsal for invasion.
North Korea warns of war after exchange of fire with South
PYONGYANG, North Korea – North
Korea on Friday declared its frontline troops in a "a quasi-state of
war" and warned of military operations a day after the rival Koreas
exchanged fire across the world's most heavily armed border.
The North has made similar bombastic claims before and the huge numbers of soldiers and military equipment stationed along the Koreas' tense border mean the area is always essentially in a "quasi-state of war." Still, the declaration, following South Korea's firing of dozens of shells across the border after the North lobbed several rounds at a South Korean town, signals a worrying development.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Un ordered at an emergency military meeting that his troops "be fully ready for any military operations at any time from 5 p.m. (0730 GMT) Friday."
The report said that "military commanders were urgently dispatched for operations to attack South Korean psychological warfare facilities if the South doesn't stop operating them."
Seoul said the North fired Thursday across the Demilitarized Zone to back up an earlier threat to attack South Korean border loudspeakers that, after a lull of 11 years, have started broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda. North Korea, which denies firing at the South, later said the South Korean shells landed near four military posts but caused no injuries. No one was reported injured in the South, either, though hundreds were evacuated from frontline towns.
The loudspeaker broadcasts began after South Korea accused the North of planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier this month.
Authoritarian North Korea, which has also restarted its own propaganda broadcasts, is extremely sensitive to any criticism of the government run by leader Kim Jong Un, whose family has ruled since the North was founded in 1948. Pyongyang worries that the critical broadcasts could weaken Kim's grip on absolute power, analysts say.
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 Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas. South Korea responded with dozens of 155-milimeter artillery rounds, according to South Korean defense officials.
The exchange stopped there, but the North's army later warned in a message that it would take further military action if South Korea didn't pull down the loudspeakers.
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 is ready to repel any additional provocation. Defense officials said South Korea will continue the loudspeaker broadcasts despite the threats.
The artillery exchange comes during another point of tensions between the Koreas: annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that North Korea calls an invasion rehearsal. Seoul and Washington say the drills are defensive in nature.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye convened an emergency National Security Council meeting and ordered South Korea's military to "resolutely" deal with any provocation by North Korea.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was worried by the North's firing into South Korea and closely monitoring the situation.
About 80 residents in the South Korean town where the shell fell, Yeoncheon, were evacuated to underground bunkers, and authorities urged other residents to evacuate, a Yeoncheon official said, requesting anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that a total of about 2,000 residents along the border were evacuated.
While the Koreas regularly exchange hostile rhetoric, it is also not unusual for fighting to occasionally erupt. Last October, North Korean troops opened fire at areas in Yeoncheon, after South Korean activists launched balloons there that carried propaganda leaflets across the border. South Korea returned fire, but no casualties were reported. Later in October, border guards from the two Koreas again exchanged gunfire along the border, without any casualties.
Before that, the Koreas tangled in a deadly artillery exchange in 2010, when North Korean artillery strikes on a South Korean border island killed four South Koreans. Earlier in 2010, an alleged North Korean torpedo attack killed 46 South Korean sailors.
North Korea's army said recently in a statement that the South Korean propaganda broadcasts were a declaration of war and that if they were not immediately stopped "an all-out military action of justice" would ensue. Pyongyang says that Seoul fabricated its evidence on the land mines and demanded video proof.
South Korea has said the two soldiers wounded from the mine explosions were on a routine patrol in the southern part of the DMZ that separates the two Koreas. One soldier lost both legs and the other one leg.
The Koreas' mine-strewn DMZ is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.
The North has made similar bombastic claims before and the huge numbers of soldiers and military equipment stationed along the Koreas' tense border mean the area is always essentially in a "quasi-state of war." Still, the declaration, following South Korea's firing of dozens of shells across the border after the North lobbed several rounds at a South Korean town, signals a worrying development.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Un ordered at an emergency military meeting that his troops "be fully ready for any military operations at any time from 5 p.m. (0730 GMT) Friday."
The report said that "military commanders were urgently dispatched for operations to attack South Korean psychological warfare facilities if the South doesn't stop operating them."
Seoul said the North fired Thursday across the Demilitarized Zone to back up an earlier threat to attack South Korean border loudspeakers that, after a lull of 11 years, have started broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda. North Korea, which denies firing at the South, later said the South Korean shells landed near four military posts but caused no injuries. No one was reported injured in the South, either, though hundreds were evacuated from frontline towns.
The loudspeaker broadcasts began after South Korea accused the North of planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier this month.
Authoritarian North Korea, which has also restarted its own propaganda broadcasts, is extremely sensitive to any criticism of the government run by leader Kim Jong Un, whose family has ruled since the North was founded in 1948. Pyongyang worries that the critical broadcasts could weaken Kim's grip on absolute power, analysts say.
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 Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas. South Korea responded with dozens of 155-milimeter artillery rounds, according to South Korean defense officials.
The exchange stopped there, but the North's army later warned in a message that it would take further military action if South Korea didn't pull down the loudspeakers.
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 is ready to repel any additional provocation. Defense officials said South Korea will continue the loudspeaker broadcasts despite the threats.
The artillery exchange comes during another point of tensions between the Koreas: annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that North Korea calls an invasion rehearsal. Seoul and Washington say the drills are defensive in nature.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye convened an emergency National Security Council meeting and ordered South Korea's military to "resolutely" deal with any provocation by North Korea.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was worried by the North's firing into South Korea and closely monitoring the situation.
About 80 residents in the South Korean town where the shell fell, Yeoncheon, were evacuated to underground bunkers, and authorities urged other residents to evacuate, a Yeoncheon official said, requesting anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that a total of about 2,000 residents along the border were evacuated.
While the Koreas regularly exchange hostile rhetoric, it is also not unusual for fighting to occasionally erupt. Last October, North Korean troops opened fire at areas in Yeoncheon, after South Korean activists launched balloons there that carried propaganda leaflets across the border. South Korea returned fire, but no casualties were reported. Later in October, border guards from the two Koreas again exchanged gunfire along the border, without any casualties.
Before that, the Koreas tangled in a deadly artillery exchange in 2010, when North Korean artillery strikes on a South Korean border island killed four South Koreans. Earlier in 2010, an alleged North Korean torpedo attack killed 46 South Korean sailors.
North Korea's army said recently in a statement that the South Korean propaganda broadcasts were a declaration of war and that if they were not immediately stopped "an all-out military action of justice" would ensue. Pyongyang says that Seoul fabricated its evidence on the land mines and demanded video proof.
South Korea has said the two soldiers wounded from the mine explosions were on a routine patrol in the southern part of the DMZ that separates the two Koreas. One soldier lost both legs and the other one leg.
The Koreas' mine-strewn DMZ is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.
North Korea is a dangerous country according to USA, it has also developed the hydrogen bomb.
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