Police to intensify readiness against N. Korea's possible provocations

Police said Friday they have strengthened security measures as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's recent nuclear and long-range rocket tests.

Kang Sin-myeong, the National Police Agency (NPA) Commissioner-General, has ordered local police agencies and stations to establish and intensively execute field training exercise (FTX) plans, according to the NPA.

The instructions were made a few days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying a satellite in what the outside world criticized as a test of ballisticissile technology.

The launch came on the heels of the communist country's surprise nuclear test on Jan. 6.

The police chief also designated a total of 18 units from the provincial police agencies as operating forces and made them receive commissioned education from the military.

In case of a terror attack or other provocations by the North, those forces will be mobilized first as reinforcing units following the military, police said.

Police said they have intensified measures to prevent acts of terror in major national facilities and foreign officials'residences.

They are also going to great lengths to prevent a recurrence of cyber attacks by the North.

North Korea has a track record of waging cyber attacks on South Korea and the United States, though it has flatly denied any involvement. (Yonhap)