North Korea orders troops on war footing after exchanging fire with South

21-Aug (BBC) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his frontline troops to be on a war footing, after an exchange of fire with the South across their heavily fortified border, state media report.

The KCNA report said Mr Kim declared a “semi-state of war” at an emergency meeting late Thursday.

It threatened action unless Seoul ends its anti-Pyongyang border broadcasts.

The North often uses fierce rhetoric when tensions rise and it has made similar declarations before.

The BBC’s South Korea correspondent Steve Evans says that although this ritual of aggression often sees such language escalate to the firing of ammunition, this time the rhetoric is fiercer and artillery shells are now in use.

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