North Korean leader Kim Jong-un outlined the lines for “immediate military action“ at a meeting of senior officials dedicated to national security, against the backdrop of heightened tensions with South Korea, North Korean state media reported today, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reported.
Kim “defined the guidelines for immediate military action and pointed out important tasks that must be accomplished within the framework of military deterrence and the exercise of the right of self-defense“, the official North Korean news agency KCNA reported.
Today's meeting was attended by the country's top security officials, including the chief of the general staff and the ministers of national security and defense. The meeting came amid heightened tensions with South Korea.
North Korea, which has accused Seoul of sending drones dropping propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang, has sent reinforcements to the border and warned that just one more drone would be considered a "declaration of war". The meeting featured a report on the enemy's "serious provocations" and Kim "expressed a firm political and military stance", KCNA reported.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun initially denied Seoul was behind the drone flights. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff later said it could not "confirm whether the North Korean claims (are) true or not". Militant groups in South Korea have a habit of sending American propaganda and currency to the North, usually in balloons.
Although the two Koreas are technically still at war because the deadly 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the United Nations Command in Korea, which oversees the truce, said it was aware of the North Korean allegations. “The command is currently conducting an investigation in strict accordance with the armistice agreement,” it said.