North Korea Orders Troop ‘Mobilization’ For War Games

North Korea said Friday that it was entering a state of “wartime mobilization” for nationwide military exercises, according to foreign aid officials and reporters based in the capital, Pyongyang.

The mobilization was imposed late Thursday for the war games, which were being held out of concern over growing foreign military threats, China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, quoted north Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Li In Gyu as saying Friday in Pyongyang.

In comments to foreign diplomats, Li accused the United States, Japan and South Korea of exploiting the economic crisis in North Korea to plot against it, said the report, which did not provide further details.

An international aid worker based in Pyongyang said the maneuvers were not unusual, and that North Korea had been staging military exercises for almost two weeks.

“There’s nothing particular, I would say. Last year when I was here there was a similar exercise,” said the official.

He said there was no obvious increase in the military presence in Pyongyang and that no curfew had been announced.

North Korea’s economy has been in a free fall and the country has had to turn to the international community for help in battling famine because of waning harvests worsened by floods and drought.

The reports of mobilization followed unconfirmed rumors of troop movements and possible armed clashes in Pyongyang, but they did not cause immediate alarm in rival South Korea.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Friday denied that North Korea had launched a wartime alert, saying the North’s activities appeared to be a standard military exercise.

The reported mobilization follows an incident early Thursday when South Korean soldiers fired warning shots toward North Korean soldiers, who apparently crossed the heavily-guarded demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two countries, according to the Defense Ministry.