PYONGYANG, October 21. /TASS/. North Korean military personnel must immediately launch a counterattack in the event of enemy provocations that pose a real threat to their safety on the border with South Korea, said Marshal Pak Jong Chon, an adviser to the North Korean Defense Ministry, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"If, after warnings over loudspeakers and warning shots, the enemy subsequently engages in provocative actions against our military personnel that pose a real threat to their safety, a retaliatory strike must be launched immediately. Now is not the time for verbal exchanges," the agency quoted him as saying.

According to KCNA, on October 20, Pak Jong Chon inspected key fortification construction sites along the country’s southern border. He was accompanied by Ri Il Hwan, a secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), Kim Yo Jong, a department director at the WPK Central Committee, and representatives of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).

Pak Jong Chon called Seoul’s claims about alleged border crossings by KPA servicemen "an intentional and premeditated fabrication aimed at shifting blame for escalating tensions onto us to pursue ulterior motives." He emphasized, "No one knows the extent of our nation’s border more than our military, and we are simply doing what is ours to do on our own land."

For her part, Kim Yo Jong stated that the military leadership of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea considers it necessary to make it clear to the enemy that new artillery units of the DPRK Armed Forces have occupied firing positions. "The head of state has ordered that not the slightest concession be made regarding the exercise of territorial sovereignty and that the border with the hostile state be turned into a permanent line," she said. Kim Yo Jong emphasized that the process of permanently securing the DPRK’s southern border is irreversible.