Top military officer calls for 'stern' action in event of North Korea provocation

Seoul: South Korea's top military officer on Tuesday called for 'stern' action in the event of a North Korean provocation as he visited a command overseeing Border Island units in the Yellow Sea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo renewed the call at the North West Islands Defence Command in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of Seoul, citing increasing North Korean threats, according to his office, Yonhap news agency reported.

The visit came two days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a ceremony commemorating the transfer of 250 tactical ballistic missile launchers to frontline military units.

"As a military that takes bold and stern action, (we) must instill fear in the enemy and trust in the people," Kim said, according to a release.

The North West Islands Defense Command is in charge of operations of troops stationed on the border islands near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea. Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan doubles as the command's head.

Waters near the NLL have been a flashpoint between the two Koreas, where three bloody naval skirmishes took place in 1999, 2002 and 2009.

In March 2010, Pyongyang torpedoed a South Korean warship near the NLL, killing 46 sailors. The North also bombarded the border island of Yeonpyeong in November that year, killing two Marines and two civilians.