Park vows to sternly deal with any North Korean provocations

President Park Geun-hye warned Saturday of retaliation against North Korea for its possible provocations amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea "will sternly deal with any North Korean provocations," Park said in a televised speech marking the 70th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japanese colonial rule.

Liberation Day, which falls on Saturday, is one of the major holidays in both Koreas.

She said provocations and threats will only result in isolation and destruction.

Park's warning came hours after North Korea threatened to carry out "indiscriminate strikes" on South Korea unless Seoul halts anti-Pyongyang broadcasts along their border.

"If they turn down the demand of the DPRK, it would start an all-out military action of justice to blow up all means for 'anti-north psychological warfare in all areas along the front," the North's Front Command said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

South Korea resumed the broadcasts on Aug. 10 in retaliation against a land mine explosion inside the demilitarized zone that left two South Korean soldiers severely injured. South Korea has accused the North of planting the mines in violation of the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

On Friday, North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission denied Pyongyang's involvement in the land mine attack and demanded that Seoul provide solid proof. (Yonhap)