South Korea issues full alert for western border area

The South Korean military issued a full alert for the western border area to better react to potential military provocations by North Korea, a government official said Tuesday, according to Yonhap News Agency.

As part of retaliation for the North's bloody mine detonation on South Korean soldiers, the South Korean Defense Ministry resumed its anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasting in the western front-line area a day earlier.

Two South Korean staff sergeants were severely injured when landmines exploded in the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Aug. 4.

A South Korean probe showed Monday that North Korea secretly buried the mines on the South Korean side in violation of the Armistice Agreement that prohibits acts of aggression in the DMZ.

As part of its retaliation, the South Korean military resumed the loudspeaker campaign, a psychological warfare dreaded by the North, in the Paju area a day earlier.

"The top-notch alert was issued after resuming the loudspeaker broadcasting in the center-to-western front-line area after 5:00 p.m. yesterday," the Ministry of National Defense official said.

The military is reinforcing its artillery power to better react to unexpected provocations by North Korea, the official said, adding they are keeping close tabs on North Korean troop movement at the border.

The loudspeaker campaign, airing the latest news on South Korea and anti-Pyongyang messages, puts psychological pressure on North Korea, where the flow of outside information is tightly controlled.

South Korea took steps to resume the border campaign in 2010, following the North's deadly torpedoing of the Navy ship Cheonan. The South, however, decided not to restart the campaign after the North threatened to shoot down the broadcasting facility.

South Korea will immediately return fire if North Korea shoots at the loudspeakers, the ministry official said.