N.Korea calls end to half-century truce; US troops raise alert

US, S. Korean troops on alert after Poyngyang ends truce

South Korea and the United States put their troops on higher alert in the Korean peninsula Thursday after the North said it was ending a truce in force for half a century and warned of a possible attack.
Seoul’s defence ministry said air and ground forces were keeping a closer watch on the tense land and sea border with the communist North after Pyongyang said it was abandoning the armistice signed to end the Korean War in 1953.
Tensions have risen sharply since North Korea Monday tested a nuclear bomb believed to be about four times more powerful than the one it detonated in 2006. It followed up by test-firing five short-range missiles.
“We are maintaining a tight defence posture to prevent the North’s military provocations,” said ministry spokesman Won Tae-Jae. “The military will deal sternly with provocative acts.”
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States and other members of the UN Security Council were mulling “possible sanctions” against Pyongyang, in the first such on the record comment from a US official. LinkHere