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Hwang is considered by outside analysts to be North Korea’s second most important official after supreme leader Kim Jong Un.

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...

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.

North Korea has denied any involvement in the mine blasts and threatened “indiscriminate” strikes against South Korean border units unless the broadcasts were halted immediately.

The rival Koreas have resumed cross-border propaganda warfare as North Korea matched South Korea’s loudspeaker campaign with broadcasts of its own that reportedly included criticism of Seoul and praises for Pyongyang.

South Korea has said the two soldiers wounded in the mine explosions were on a routine patrol in the southern part of the DMZ that separates the two Koreas. Pyongyang is demanding they be turned off by Saturday evening.

The saber rattling in the Korean Peninsula escalated Friday as the North threatened military action if South Korea does not stop blaring propaganda from speakers across the border by Saturday.

The two Koreas traded threats on Friday following a brief exchange of fire a day earlier, in a confrontation that experts say carries a risk that the inexperienced North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un will provoke South Korea to launch a major military retaliation.

The land mines used wooden boxes and were of North Korean origin and were probably planted between July 22 and Tuesday, he said. It was unclear when the broadcasts would start or how long they would continue.

North Korea fired on South Korea Thursday, leading to an exchange of rocket and artillery fire over their highly fortified demilitarized zone, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry. Following the incident, the South Korean Ministry of Defense said it had received a...

Kim Moo-sung, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, called on the military to raise its combat readiness as North Korea fired artillery shells targeted at loudspeakers at a South Korean front-line military unit on the western area.

The incident started when North Korea fired a rocket at a South Korean border area, prompting Seoul’s forces to reply with an artillery barrage.

In response the South Korean military fired tens of artillery rounds towards North Korea.

The North did not return fire, but did warn the South to discontinue the broadcast within 48 hours or face military repercussions, the the South’s defense ministry said, according to Reuters.

For years, banks of speakers positioned at more than a dozen points along the border with the North had blared out propaganda messages about the joys of life in South Korea.