North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his soldiers to be ready for combat in full battle gear, declaring a near state of war in the border region.
 
The North’s official Korean Central Television reported on Friday that Kim issued the order at an emergency meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party. 
 
The report said that Kim as the supreme commander declared “quasi-state of war” in the border region, instructing the North Korean frontline units to switch to war mode starting from Friday 17:00. 
 
The North Korean media said that officers have been dispatched to the frontline to destroy the enemy’s means of psychological warfare if the South does not stop its propaganda broadcasts until Saturday afternoon.
 
After firing artillery at Yeoncheon County in the South on Thursday, the North Korean General Staff department also sent a telephone message to the South Korean Defense Ministry through an inter-Korean military hotline.

While calling the South Korean loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts an "all-out challenge," the North in the message called for the suspension of the psy-ops within 48 hours starting from 5 p.m. Thursday.
 
The North Korean media also reported that the emergency meeting discussed ways to switch all party organizations, security and defense agencies, factories and companies, located near the front into a quasi-state of war.
 
The emergency meeting was attended by top officials of the military commission and the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.