North Korea’s Kim calls for military readiness against any ‘provocation’

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his military to be ready to respond to any "provocation" by the enemy, state media said on Friday, after Pyongyang vowed to deploy stronger armed forces and new weapons along its border with the South. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have increased since the North last month launched a spy satellite, prompting Seoul to suspend a key clause in a 2018 inter-Korean military accord and Pyongyang in turn to declare it was no longer bound by the pact. Visiting North Korea's air force command on Thursday to the branch's airmen day, Kim rolled out guidelines to improve the military's combat posture and increase "its capabilities to fight a war to the full," news agency KCNA reported. "He set forth operational and tactical policies ... so as to counter any military provocation and threat of the enemy immediately and powerfully," KCNA said. That stop was followed by a visit to a fighter wing, where pilots staged a demonstration flight, it said.