N. Korea places western and eastern coast maritime patrol units on “top combat posture”
The order indicates that the North Korean leadership is preparing for the potential of clashes between the two Koreas amid efforts to recover the body of a South Korean fisheries official who was recently shot and killed by the crew of a North Korean patrol vessel. The order may also be an attempt by the leadership to use existing tensions caused by the incident as a way to increase “solidarity” among members of the military.
A similar order to heighten the military’s alert posture was handed down to frontline units by Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, around the time North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office on June 16.
According to a military source in North Korea yesterday, the country’s General Staff Department relayed the order to adopt top combat posture to the Naval Command on Monday. The Naval Command then transmitted the order to the First Naval Flotilla of the East Sea Fleet and the Eighth Naval Flotilla of the West Sea Fleet. The two units assumed top combat posture that same morning. ......
[Source: Daily NK]
