South Korea’s top general instructed front-line troops Monday to prepare for possible “tactical provocations” by the enemy, his office said, as tensions remain high over Pyongyang’s recent tests of weapons.

Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum gave the instruction as he visited the 28th Infantry Division’s reconnaissance battalion in the border county of Yeoncheon, 60 kilometers north of Seoul, according to the JCS.

“The enemy will make a provocation at an unpredictable time and method by using our weaknesses,” Kim was quoted as saying. “Thorough preparations must be made against tactical provocations in the border region, and I call on you to maintain an operational posture through realistic training and combat preparations.”

Kim also visited the U.S. Forces Korea’s Camp Casey in Dongducheon, 41 km north of the capital, to be briefed on the combined operational posture. He met and encouraged U.S. troops of a Multiple Launch Rocket System unit there, calling them the alliance’s “symbol of mutual trust.”

The visits came after Pyongyang’s recent saber-rattling, such as its launch of a purported solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday and a North Korean patrol boat’s crossing of the western de facto maritime border Saturday.

Source: Yonhap News Agency