SEOUL, March 4 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un put his army on high alert following a weekend visit to the border with South Korea, state media announced Sunday.
Kim, who succeeded his late father in December, was quoted saying any nation that trifled with North Korea would be "kneeling before us to sign not a truce this time but a document of surrender."
Kim's statement came on the heels of Pyongyang's announcement last week that it was freezing its nuclear weapons program in exchange for international food aid, The New York Times said. It also came after Kim's first high-profile visit to the heavily fortified border.
The new alert status was also seen in the South as a response to recent reports about posters hanging in a South Korean army barracks proclaiming "Let's kill Kim Jong-un." South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the northern neighbors took offense at the supposed insult to Kim's dignity.
The South Korean Defense Ministry brushed off the heightened alert and dismissed Pyongyang's umbrage as routine and noted "Seoul does not protest the North's frequent slandering of South Korean leaders."
