[Al Jazeera] South Korea has stepped up security near a disputed maritime border off its west coast as North Korea issued a warning it will launch more attacks if Seoul continues to make "reckless military provocations".Following media criticisms of an allegedly weak response, South Korea's military said there are plans to change its "rather passive" rules of engagement, Hong Sang-Pyo, the senior South Korean public affairs secretary, said.
South Korea will also "sharply increase military forces, including ground troops, on the five islands in the Yellow Sea and allocate more of its budget toward dealing with North Korea's asymmetrical threats", said Hong.
The military reinforcement comes two days after the warring neighbours traded artillery fire on Tuesday over South Korea's Yeonpyeong island close to their disputed sea border. Two South Korean marines and two non-combatants were killed in the incident.
North Korea on Thursday warned of additional military attacks if it is provoked further, the North's KCNA news agency said.
"[North Korea] will wage second and even third rounds of attacks without any hesitation, if warmongers in South Korea make reckless military provocations again," the agency said, quoting from a military statement.
The latest warning came as Pyongyang rejected a proposal by the US-led United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Command in South Korea for general officer-level talks to ease tension on the peninsula following an artillery attack on Tuesday.
"North Korea appears to have rejected the proposal on the ground that there's nothing much it could gain from the talks," South Korea's Yonhap news agency earlier quoted a Seoul government official as saying.
Security review
The US and South Korea are to hold joint military exercises next week, with the aircraft carrier USS George Washington participating in the drills.
"Over telephone talks with Secretary [of State] Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill...
, we agreed that through the drill, we will be able to ... send a clear message to the North in relation to the recent situation," a South Korean foreign ministry front man said.