Kim Jong Un puts troops along border on war footing

North Korea had given the South until 5:00 p.m. Pyongyang time Saturday (0830 UTC) to stop the anti-Pyongyang cross-border broadcasts, which Seoul started up last week following a landmine explosion that wounded two South Korean soldiers.

“The South and the North agreed to hold contact related to the ongoing situation in South-North relations”, Kim Kyou-hyun, the presidential Blue House’s deputy national security adviser, said in a televised briefing.

Attendants at the meeting include Hwang Pyong So, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army, Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the North Korean side and Kim Kwan-jin, chief of the National Security Office and Hong Yong-pyo, unification minister on the South Korean side.

North Korea has warned that it is prepared to risk “all-out war” as leader Kim Jong-Un put his frontline troops on combat readiness to back up an ultimatum for South Korea to halt propaganda broadcasts across the border.

Its state-run news media, reporting on the talks, did something it had not done for several years, raising hopes for the border meeting: It referred to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea, instead of using the North’s standard derogatory reference to “South Korean puppets”.

But then, a turnaround seemed to occur: On Friday afternoon, North Korean officials proposed to Seoul that a meeting be held with them behind closed doors. No casualties were reported.

North and South Korea are technically still at war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Since the exchange of fire, North Korea has ramped up its aggressive rhetoric and declared a “semi-war state”.

Mr. Hwang is known as a close adviser to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Each loudspeaker system has broadcast for more than 10 hours a day in three or four different time slots that were frequently changed for unpredictably, the official said.

In its fresh warning on Saturday, the North’s foreign ministry reiterated its claims that the South had fabricated allegations that the North had fired first.

South Korean residents enter into a shelter as police officers stand guard in Yeoncheon, south of the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas, on Saturday, August 22, 2015.

Despite the meeting, the militaries of the rival Koreas are on high alert for a possible clash over these broadcasts.

Given that discussions Saturday began on such shaky ground, knowledgable observers say it’s too soon to tell whether a resolution will be found quickly.

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 had criticized the drills, calling them a preparation for invasion, although the U.S. and South Korea insist they are defensive in nature.