South Korea's military said Sunday that its troops are on heightened readiness to deal resolutely with any provocation from North Korea over the planned sending of propaganda leaflets this week by local civic groups.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said military units have been on high alert ever since Pyongyang threatened to launch military attacks on a South Korean border region Friday.
It said without going into details that artillery batteries that cover the Imjin Pavilion area on the western edge of the inter-Korean border have been strengthened, while combat air patrols by F-15K and KF-16 fighters have been increased. All commanders have also been told to stay in their posts.
The JCS added that military readiness will be heightened to the highest level on Monday when civic groups plan to launch around 200,000 leaflets using large balloons.
The pavilion is often used as a site to send balloons carrying anti-North Korean leaflets criticizing the communist country and its leadership into the North.
North Korea warned on Friday it will launch a "merciless military strike" without warning if Seoul allows anti-North activists to send provocative leaflets to the communist country, according to a dispatch from the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
It said sending such leaflets is "an unpardonable challenge to the army and people of the DPRK, and a deliberate act aimed to push the North-South ties to the lowest ebb," KCNA said in the English-language dispatch, referring to a plan by a group of North Korean defectors living in South Korea to send anti-North campaign leaflets.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Related to the heightened alert status, Gen. Jung Seung-jo, chairman of the JCS visited the Dora observation post on the western front and urged troops to be vigilant for any actions taken by the North.
"The North recently has raised public concerns by threatening to attack a certain location so troops must be ready to respond immediately," he said.
He also visited a nearby multiple rocket launcher unit to check overall preparedness, and made clear that in the event of a provocation, South Korea will neutralize both the source of the attack as well as the rear support and command areas.
Meanwhile, anti-Pyongyang civic group leaders made clear they will not be deterred from launching the balloons, despite a request by the Unification Ministry to hold off on their plans.
"We have formally requested and secured permission to hold a rally at the pavilion and will send th leaflets as planned," a representative said.
He pointed out that the North has made similar threats in the past and there is no reason why the group should be intimidated by the latest announcement. (Yonhap)