[Anchor]
South Korea remains on high alert amid fiery rhetoric and saber-rattling by North Korea in recent days.
On Wednesday, a day after it blew up a joint liaison office, Pyongyang said it would send troops to inter-Korean economic zones, reinstall DMZ guard posts and restart military drills along the border.
But Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it has yet to detect any suspicious activities.
Ron Chang reports.
[Reporter]
JCS spokesman Kim Jun-rak said Thursday that there have been no signs indicating that the North has started to carry out its threats.
The threats, if realized, would virtually nullify a military-tension reducing deal reached between the two Koreas in 2018.
Earlier, the South Korean military warned Pyongyang that it will face unspecified consequences if it violates the agreement.
Kim said the military here is keeping an eye on the North's armed forces and is preparing for various possibilities.
He also said the defense ministry is paying attention to the movements of leader Kim Jong-un after it was reported that a plane that he uses was detected traveling from Pyongyang to Hamhung reportedly for inspections.
In separate remarks, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo reiterated his ministry's earlier warning to the North, saying Seoul would respond strongly without wavering if the regime carries out further provocations.
Speaking at a luncheon with ambassadors of 22 countries that participated in the Korean War, he vowed to prevent the situation from escalating into a more serious military crisis.
The minister then asked for continued support from the international community for peace and prosperity on the peninsula.
Meanwhile, Cheong Wa Dae has denied media reports that Pyongyang informed Seoul in advance that it will blow up the liaison office.
Senior presidential secretary Yoon Do-han told a briefing that it used the military's reconnaissance assets to keep an eye on the office after Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, said she would tear it down last week, adding that's how it obtained a video of the explosion.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
