Pyongyang has ordered troops and workers to assume a “quasi-war footing” after Thursday’s exchange of artillery fire between North and South Korea, the first for nearly five years.
Seoul said on Thursday it had fired dozens of artillery rounds at the presumed source of a North Korean rocket that had landed in a border area.
The provocation by Pyongyang appears to have been prompted by anger at South Korean loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts. These were launched last week after Seoul concluded that North Korean forces had laid landmines in a deliberate attack on its patrols of the demilitarised zone that divides the states.
A state media report on Friday said a meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party Central Military Commission had ruled that “the party, government bodies...bodies, plants, enterprises, and co-operative farms [should adopt] a quasi-war footing in accordance with the declaration of quasi-war footing in the front line”.
It confirmed the issuance on Thursday afternoon of an ultimatum warning of military action if South Korea did not halt the propaganda within 48 hours, and said senior commanders had been sent to the front line.
South Korea’s defence ministry said its forces would maintain a position of high alert and would respond sternly to any further provocations by North Korea.
Thursday’s inter-Korean exchange of artillery fire was the first since December 2010, when North Korean shelling of a South Korean island killed four people. It came three days after Monday’s launch of a large-scale annual US-South Korean military exercise, which Pyongyang has condemned as preparation for an invasion.
Yet even as it warned of war, Pyongyang sent a fax to the head of South Korea’s national security office saying it was willing to pursue improved relations. Substantive negotiations between Pyongyang and Seoul, as well as with the US and other members of the suspended six-party talks, have been stalled for several years, with North Korea insistent it requires nuclear weapons since it is threatened by Washington’s.
“North Korea is escalating to make South Korea back down from its position on the nuclear programme,” said Go Myung-hyun, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “But it’s backfired because South Korea is not backing down — it’s upping the ante.”
朝鮮當局已敕令部隊和工人們進入“準戰時狀況”。在此以前，朝韓之間曾在周四產生互相炮擊的事宜，這是近5年來初次產生相似事宜。
周四，韓國當局表現曾數十次向揣摸出的朝鮮火箭彈發射點發射炮彈。此前，這枚火箭彈落在了朝韓邊疆地帶。
朝鮮當局的尋釁行動仿佛源自對韓國用擴音器播放宣揚播送的惱怒。這些宣揚播送是上周推出的。其時，韓國當局判斷，朝鮮軍方執政韓之間的非軍事區，對韓國巡查隊埋設了地雷，有意動員了打擊。
周五，朝鮮官方媒體報導稱，朝鮮勞動黨中心軍事委員會(Korean Workers’ Party Central Military Commission)會經過議定定：“全黨、當局構造……法律構造、工場、企業、互助社(應當)依照前哨準戰時狀況的公告，(進入)準戰時狀況。”
該報導確認了朝鮮方面周四下晝發出的末了通牒，並表現已向前哨吩咐消磨高等批示官。該末了通牒稱，假如韓國不在48小時內停滯宣揚播送，朝鮮將采用軍事行為。
韓國國防部表現，韓國部隊將堅持高度警惕的姿勢，將對朝鮮方面的任何進一步尋釁果斷予以回擊。
周四朝韓間的互相炮擊，是2010年12月以來初次產生炮擊事宜。在2010年12月的事宜中，朝鮮方面臨韓國一個島嶼的炮擊曾致使4人歸天。而在這次炮擊事宜三天前，美國與韓國在周一啟動了大範圍年度軍事練習。朝鮮訓斥此次軍演是在為侵犯朝鮮做預備。
不外，固然朝鮮當局發出了戰斗告誡，但它也曾向韓國國度安保室(National Security Office)發過傳真，表現樂意追求改良與韓國的幹系。因為朝鮮堅稱因遭到美國當局威逼而必需具有核兵器，朝鮮當局與韓國當局之間、和與美國及六方談判其他成員國之間的本質性商量多年來已墮入停留。
峨山政策研討院(Asan Institute for Policy Studies)剖析師Go Myung-hyun表現：“朝鮮正在步步緊逼，以迫使韓國轉變執政鮮核籌劃題目上的態度。但是，因為韓國並未畏縮，此舉發生了反感化——致使兩邊賭註越下越大。”
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