The North has declared states of war before, but the North Korea's official Central News Agency reported that leader Kim Jong Un had convened an emergency meeting of the central military commission of its ruling party and had ordered that "troops to be fully ready for any military operations at any time from 5 pm today."
The KCNA report said that "military commanders were urgently dispatched for operations to attack South Korean psychological warfare facilities if the South doesn't stop operating them."
Officials in Seoul said the North fired across the Demilitarised Zone to back up an earlier threat to attack South Korean border loudspeakers that, after a lull of 11 years, have started broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda. But the Supreme Headquarters of the Korean People's Army issued a statement later yesterday denying it had launched any shots at the South.
"This reckless shelling incident is a serious military provocation to our sacred territory and military posts which is intolerable," it said.
The broadcasts began after South Korea accused the North of planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier this month.