HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea blared propaganda broadcasts into North Korea after a six-year halt and Pyongyang said its troops were bracing for war as tensions spiked on the divided peninsula over the deadly sinking of a warship.
One Seoul-based monitoring agency reported Tuesday the North’s leader had ordered its 1.2 million-member military to get ready for combat after South Korea blamed the North for a March 26 torpedo strike that sank the warship Cheonan and killed 46 sailors. South Korean officials could not immediately confirm the report.
The South’s restarting of psychological warfare operations – including radio broadcasts into the North and placing loudspeakers at the border to blast out propaganda – were among measures the government announced Monday to punish Pyongyang. The South is also slashing trade and denying permission to North Korean cargo ships to pass through South Korean waters.