North Korea vows 'strong military counteraction' against South

A senior North Korean official has vowed to launch a "very strong military counteraction" if the South Korean government fails to halt broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda.

"If South Korea does not respond to our ultimatum, our military counteraction will be inevitable, and that counteraction will be very strong," Pyongyang's Deputy UN Ambassador An Myong Hun told reporters on Friday in New York.

According to reports, loudspeakers have been broadcasting propaganda messages against Pyongyang across the border since August 10. South Korea had suspended broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages through loudspeakers since 2004.

Seoul re-launched the mudslinging campaign following a landmine explosion that severely injured two South Korean soldiers who were patrolling the inter-Korean demilitarized zone. North Korea has denied the accusation that it had planted the mines.

The tensions on the troubled peninsula are running high since Thursday when South Korea fired dozens of shells across the border into North Korea in retaliation for an apparent Pyongyang rocket attack.

“The resumption of the broadcasting is a direct action of declaring a war against the DPRK (North Korea),” the Front Command of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said on August 15 in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had ordered the frontline to “enter a wartime state” as of Friday 5:00 pm (0800 GMT). The troops should be “fully battle-ready to launch surprise operations” while the entire frontline should be placed in a “semi-war state."

The South has also placed its military on high alert, with Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense saying, “South Korea will strongly retaliate against any kind of North Korean attacks and the North will have to take all the responsibility for such... actions.”

The developments also come as the United States and South Korea have launched an annual joint military drill. As many as 80,000 US and South Korean forces are taking part in the exercise.

The drills simulate a full-scale invasion by North Korea. Pyongyang has denounced the joint drill as provocative.

North Korea accuses the US of plotting with regional allies to topple its government. Pyongyang says it will not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless the US ends its hostile policy toward North Korea and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on Pyongyang and Seoul not to take any action that could further escalate tensions.

UN spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said on Friday that Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, was deeply concerned by the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"He urges the parties to refrain from taking any further measures that might increase tensions," said Kaneko, adding, “He also calls on parties to engage in dialogue to reduce tensions and to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula."

The Korean Peninsula has been locked in a cycle of military rhetoric since the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953 and ended in an armistice. No peace deal has been signed since then, meaning that Pyongyang and Seoul remain technically at war.

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