S Korea Doubts Pyongyang’s Intentions to Hold Dialogue After Fire Exchange

South Korea’s Ministry of Unification is skeptical about the North’s intent to hold open dialogue in view of the recent exchange of fire between the neighbors.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – On Thursday, North Korea fired shells at a South Korean military base across the demilitarized zone. Seoul responded by firing back dozens of heavy artillery rounds.

"We cannot help having doubts about North Korea's sincerity over holding dialogue with South Korea," ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said at a Friday press briefing, as quoted by the South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

The first major armed clash between the neighbors in five years came in the wake of Seoul’s resumed broadcasting of military propaganda over the border toward North Korea, a practice it had suspended over a decade earlier.

The North Korean People's Army warned on Saturday that it would destroy the South Korean loudspeaker systems located near the demilitarized zone, if Seoul continued to operate them. At the same time, Pyongyang expressed its readiness to hold dialogue to find a way out of the crisis.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un ordered the country’s army to bring the frontline troops to full combat readiness on Friday, following the Thursday exchange of fire between North and South Korea.

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense warned on Friday that it would carry out a tough response if the North continued to escalate tensions.