PH
As residents in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, go about their business as usual on Friday morning, propaganda vans with loudspeakers have been mobilised to broadcast the news that their country is in a “semi-state of war.”
Large crowds have gathered outside Pyongyang’s main train station to watch a giant screen showing the news.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday declared his troops in a “quasi-state of war” and ordered them to prepare for battle a day after the most serious confrontation between the rivals in years.
The North has engaged in a similar warlike rhetoric in recent years, including repeated threats to reduce Seoul to a “sea of fire.”
But the latest tensions raise worries because South Korea has vowed to hit back with overwhelming strength should North Korea attack again as it did on Thursday.
North Korea has denied firing at South Korea’s border town, a claim Seoul dismisses as nonsense.
