North and South Korea appeared headed toward another clash, as Seoul refused an ultimatum that it halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts by Saturday afternoon or face military action and North Korea said its troops were on a war footing.
South
Korean Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo said Friday it was likely the North
would fire at some of the 11 sites where the loudspeakers are set up on the
South's side of the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the countries.
Tension
escalated Thursday when North Korea fired four shells into South Korea,
according to Seoul, in apparent protest against the broadcasts. The South fired
back 29 artillery shells. Pyongyang accused the South of inventing a pretext to
fire into the North.
Both
sides said there were no casualties or damage in their territory, an indication
that the rounds were warning shots.
"The
fact that both sides' shells didn't damage anything means they did not want to
spread an armed clash. There is always a chance for war, but that chance is
very, very low," said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North
Korean Studies in Seoul.
Since
the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty, Pyongyang
and Seoul have often exchanged threats and dozens of soldiers have been killed,
yet the two sides have always pulled back from all-out war.
But
the renewed hostility is a further blow to South Korean President Park
Geun-hye's efforts to improve North-South ties, which have been virtually
frozen since the deadly 2010 sinking of a South Korean navy ship, which Seoul
blames on Pyongyang.
Park
canceled an event Friday and made a visit to a military command post, dressed
in army camouflage.
Both
sides traded harsh rhetoric late Friday.
The
North committed "cowardly criminal acts," South Korean Defense
Minister Han Min-koo said. "This time, I will make sure to sever the
vicious cycle of North Korea's provocations."
The
North's official KCNA news agency said its military was not bluffing.
The South says it won't stop broadcasts
The North's shelling came after it had demanded last weekend that South Korea end the broadcasts or face military action — a relatively rare case of following up on its frequent threats against the South.
Its
48-hour ultimatum, delivered in a letter to the South Korean Defense Ministry,
was also uncharacteristically specific, said John Delury, a North Korea expert
at Yonsei University in Seoul. The deadline is around 5 p.m. (0800 Greenwich
Mean Time) Saturday in Seoul.
South
Korea began blasting anti-North propaganda from loudspeakers on the border
August 10, resuming a tactic both sides had stopped in 2004, days after
landmines wounded two South Korean soldiers along the DMZ.
North
Korea began its own broadcasts Monday.
Baek
told his country's parliament that the South's broadcasts would continue unless
the North accepted responsibility and apologized for the mines. Pyongyang has
denied responsibility.
"There
is a high possibility that North Korea will attack loudspeaker
facilities," Baek said.
KCNA
said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had declared a "quasi-state of
war" in frontline areas.
There
were indications the North was preparing to fire short-range missiles, the
South's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed government source. The North
often fires rockets into the sea during annual US-South Korean military
exercises, which are currently under way.
The
US military, which bases 28,500 personnel in South Korea, said it was
monitoring the situation.
Washington,
D.C., earlier urged Pyongyang to halt "provocative" actions after
Thursday's exchange of fire, the first between the two Koreas since October.
Daniel
Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group think tank, said the large US troop
presence in the South for the military exercises could reduce the risk of
escalation by pressuring the South to exercise restraint, and as a deterrent to
the North.
"This
is a bad time to pick a fight with the South while it has all these resources
there," he said.
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