U.S. military exercises with Seoul halted amid North's threats of war

South Korea returned fire after it was attacked by North Korea. No damage was reported, though hundreds were evacuated from the area. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

(Photo: AP)

The U.S. halted annual joint military exercises with South Korea on Friday amid threats of war from North Korea.

U.S. defense officials, speaking on background to the Associated Press, said they were monitoring the situation, but no further military steps had been taken.

It was unclear if the exercises — which were stopped one week early — would resume. Reuters quoted an unidentified U.S. official as calling the halt a "pre-scheduled pause."

The latest development came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's declared Friday that his front-line troops are in a "quasi-state of war" and ordered them to prepare for battle against South Korea in response to an exchange of artillery fire along the border Thursday.

The young North Korean leader also chaired an emergency meeting of the North's powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The Ulchi Freed Guardian Exercises 2015, scheduled to run from Aug. 17 to 28, involve 30,000 U.S. and 50,000 South Korean troops and also include forces from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, according to the U.S. Forces Korea web site.The UFK notes that the exercise is "planned months in advance and it is not connected to any current world events."

In response to the latest saber-rattling, South Korea’s defense minister, Han Minkoo warned North Korea it will face “searing” consequences if it launches fresh provocation.

"This time, we’ll cut off a vicious circle of North Korean provocation,” he said, according to the Associated Press

China said it was "deeply concerned" about the situation and called for the parties involved to cease any actions escalating tensions and maintain calm and restraint, spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on the ministry's website.

The North's CMC endorsed Kim's ultimatum that South Korea turn off loudspeakers that the North says are broadcasting provocative propaganda across the Demilitarized Zone between the two countries.

The North has given the South until 5 p.m. North Korean time (4:30 a.m. ET) Saturday to stop the broadcasts and remove banks of loudspeakers or suffer what it says will be severe military consequences.

The broadcasts began after South Korea accused the North of planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier this month. North Korea denies that allegation.

"The Korean People's Army (KPA) front-line large combined units entered into a wartime state all at once, fully armed to launch surprise operations, and wound up their preparedness for action," the KCNA said in an English-language dispatch, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency.

The report also said that North Korean soldiers are waiting for "an order of attack" to destroy its enemy, warning the loudspeakers are "within the sight of the KPA's multiple rocket launchers and tactical and strategic rocket forces."

In an unusual move, a senior North Korean military officer also held a rare "emergency situation briefing" for diplomats and military attaches in Pyongyang to deliver its side of the crisis, AP reported from its bureau in the North Korean capital.

Kim Yong Chol, director of the general reconnaissance bureau of the North Korean army, said all front line units are on full war readiness and citizens are now in a "quasi-state of war."

The escalating war rhetoric from the secretive, nuclear-armed state comes a day after what some military analysts described as the most serious confrontation between the rival Koreas in years but others said simply reflected a periodic ratcheting up in tensions between the neighboring countries.

On Thursday, South Korea fired dozens of artillery rounds at North Korea in response to what it said were North Korean artillery strikes directed at Seoul. Pyongyang said it did not fire the shells. No one was injured in the incidents.

On Friday, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency nevertheless said that Kim Jong Un ordered his military to be ready for potential action later in the day.

“Military commanders were urgently dispatched for operations to attack South Korean psychological warfare facilities if the South doesn’t stop operating them,” the report said, according to AP.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Friday that Seoul's intelligence agencies detected the movement of vehicles carrying short-range Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles in possible preparation for launches.

The report cited anonymous government officials. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report, according to the AP.

South Korea is accustomed to discounting North Korea’s repeated threats and the seriousness of this latest clash remains unclear.

"The fact that both sides' shells didn't damage anything means they did not want to spread an armed clash. There is always a chance for war but that chance is very, very low," Yang Moo-jin, a professor in North Korean studies in Seoul, told Reuters.

Korea was a unified nation until the end of the Korean War in 1953. Tensions between the two sides have escalated in recent years amid Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.