North Korea leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to enter a "wartime state" Friday and warned of military action unless South Korea stops blaring anti-Pyongyang propaganda over loudspeakers, NBC News reported.
The North Korean military allegedly fired a projectile at the loudspeaker around 4 p.m. Thursday local time and South Korean forces fired dozens of artillery shells back in response, officials said. North Korea denies firing.
"Psychological warfare against the DPRK is, in essence, an open act of war against it," North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency said in a statement released Friday, using an acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The statement said the situation "is now inching close to the brink of a war."
