North Korea orders army to 'enter wartime state'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered army units to enter a "wartime state," one of the nation's highest levels of military alert, ratcheting up tensions with South Korea a day after the two countries exchanged fire over their heavily armed border. Front lines are expected to be on standby, fully armed, and in bunkers and gun positions, according to a spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, who spoke with The New York Times.

The shooting started when North Korea fired a shell at a loudspeaker South Korea was using to broadcast anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the border. The communist North, known for its saber-rattling, threatened further military action if South Korea does not shut off the loudspeaker by 5 p.m. Saturday.

In early August, two South Korean soldiers were badly injured when they stepped on land mines while patrolling the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone that has separated North and South Korea since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953. South Korean Maj. Gen. Koo Hong-mo has since warned that "North Korea will pay a harsh price proportionate to the provocation that North Korea made."

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