MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Pyongyang will react strongly if Seoul rejects its demands to stop the psychological war against North Korea by the Saturday deadline, the country's ambassador to Russia said Friday.
"We have put forward an ultimatum, and if they do not remove all the means of psychological war until 17 o'clock tomorrow [07:00 GMT Saturday], our reaction will be strong and inevitable," Ambassador Kim Hyun Joong said at a news conference in Moscow.
On Thursday, North Korea reportedly fired shells at a South Korean military base across the demilitarized zone, to which Seoul responded by firing back dozens of heavy artillery rounds.
"Because of the recent provocations of the United State of America and South Korea, the situation in the Korean Peninsula is on the verge of war," Ambassador Kim Hyun Joong said at a press conference in Moscow.
Earlier in the day, Pyongyang completed its preparations for military action. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his front line troops to be brought to full combat readiness following an exchange of fire on the peninsula. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense pledged a "tough" response to escalating tensions.
The first armed clashes between the neighbors in over five years followed South Korea's resumed broadcasting of military propaganda over the border toward North Korea. It had suspended the practice over a decade earlier, but restarted it after several South Korean soldiers were wounded on the the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) border.
Seoul and Pyongyang signed a ceasefire after the 1950-1953 Korean War, but the countries formally remain in a state of war.
