North Korean troops in areas bordering the South have been put on high alert and are prepared to wipe out their South Korean counterparts, the North’s state media reported Tuesday.

The move is the latest in a series of provocative gestures by the North, which made similar threats last week and fired artillery in the direction of a South Korean vessel last Tuesday.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted North Korean military spokesperson for the Command of the Southwestern Front continued the North’s denials of responsibility for the attack, which he labeled a “poor deceptive farce.”

“Those military gangsters mistook rising waves for water columns and shelling,” the unnamed spokesman said.

The KCNA report concluded with a warning.

“We solemnly declare on this occasion that if the service personnel of the KPA on the Southwestern Front open fire, they will not leave such columns of water but blow up the targets at a single strike,” it said.

“The military gangsters of (South Korean President) Park Geun Hye would be well advised to always remember that all the service personnel of the KPA on the Southwestern Front are highly alerted to carry out a combat order to wipe out those provocateurs the moment they move.”

An overall increase in threatening language by the North’s domestic propaganda outlets has been observed recently.

Picture: Morning Calm Weekly, Flickr Creative Commons

North Korean troops in areas bordering the South have been put on high alert and are prepared to wipe out their South Korean counterparts, the North’s state media reported Tuesday. The move is the latest in a series of provocative gestures by the North, which made similar threats last week and fired artillery in the