North Korean military official said on Friday that senior party and defense officials led by North Korean leader The move came after Thursday saw the most serious confrontation between the rivals in years. The official gave no details about what kind of military retaliation North Korea would see as appropriate for South Korea’s shelling of its territory on Thursday.
However, Kim Yong Chol, director of the general reconnaissance bureau of the North Korean army, denied Friday that North Korea had fired across the Demilitarized Zone and said South Korea had not offered conclusive evidence of where a rocket would have come from. He suggested South Korea may have made a human error in its assessment of events and that its decision to retaliate was dangerous and rash.
“Skirmishes can lead to all-out war,” Chol said.
South Korea’s defense minister Han Minkoo on Friday warned North Korea that it would face “searing” consequences if it launched fresh provocation.
“This time, we’ll cut off a vicious circle of North Korean provocation,” Minkoo said, adding that Seoul was closely cooperating with the U.S. to deter potential aggression by North Korea.
Early on Friday, North Korean leader
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified government source, reported on Friday that South Korean and U.S. surveillance assets detected the movement of vehicles in North Korea carrying short-range Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles in a possible preparation for launches. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report.
South Korea’s military on Thursday fired dozens of artillery rounds across the border in response to what Seoul said were North Korean artillery strikes meant to back up a threat to attack loudspeakers broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda.
The North’s declaration of a “quasi-state of war” is similar to its other warlike rhetoric in recent years, including repeated threats to reduce Seoul to a “sea of fire,” and the huge numbers of soldiers and military equipment already stationed along the border mean the area is always essentially in a “quasi-state of war.” Still, the North’s apparent willingness to test Seoul with military strikes and its recent warning of further action raise worries because South Korea has vowed to hit back with overwhelming strength should North Korea attack again.
Pyongyang says it did not fire anything at the South, a claim Seoul dismissed as nonsense.
Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to “enter a wartime state” and be fully ready for any military operations starting Friday evening, according to a report in Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency. The North has also given Seoul a deadline of Saturday evening to remove border loudspeakers that, after a lull of 11 years, have started broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda. Failure, Pyongyang says, will result in further military action. Seoul has vowed to continue the broadcasts.
The North’s media 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.”
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified government source, reported Friday that South Korean and U.S. surveillance assets detected the movement of vehicles carrying short-range Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles in a possible preparation for launches. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report.