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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his frontline
troops to be ready for war, against a backdrop of rising
military tensions between his country and South Korea.
The announcement follows an exchange of artillery shells
across the two countries’ heavily fortified border.

The Demilitarised Zone 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’s official KCNA news agency said the move came
during an emergency meeting late on Thursday of the
powerful Central Military Commission of which Kim is the
chairman.

During the meeting, Kim ordered frontline, combined units of
the Korean People’s Army (KPA) to “enter a wartime state”
from Friday 5pm local time (08:00 GMT).

The troops should be “fully battle ready to launch surprise
operations” while the entire frontline should be placed in a
“semi-war state,” KCNA quoted him as saying.

The CMC meeting came hours after the two Koreas traded
artillery fire on Thursday, leaving no apparent casualties but
pushing already elevated cross-border tensions to
dangerously high levels.

The KPA followed up with an ultimatum sent via military
hotline that gave the South 48 hours to dismantle
loudspeakers blasting propaganda messages across the
border or face further military action.
The ultimatum expires on Saturday at 5pm.

http://www.punchng.com/news/were-ready-for-war-north-korea/