SEOUL, December 20. /ITAR-TASS/. North Korea has threatened to strike South Korea without warning. A spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Friday that the North’s powerful National Defense Commission on Thursday sent a fax to South Korea’s National Security Council through the western coastal military hotline to threaten to strike the South “without any notice.”

According to the South Korean Defense Ministry official, Pyongyang issued threats in response to conservatives’ anti-Pyongyang rallies in Seoul on the second death anniversary of its leader Kim Jong-il earlier this week. The latest threat came after several conservative groups and North Korean defectors on Tuesday held rallies in Seoul to protest against North Korea’s authoritarian rule and human rights abuse, with some burning Kim Jong-Un’s photo, evoking harsh criticism from the DPRK National Defense Commission.

The South Korean Defense Ministry immediately replied through the military line, vowing to “sternly react” to any provocations, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said, Yeohap news agency reported.

The DPRK Korean People’s Army (KPA) since early December is conducting winter combat training, however, no change in its daily activities have been observed, the South Korea Defense Ministry stressed.

South Korea’s capital with a population of more than 10 million people is within reach of North Korean long-range artillery deployed along the border on heavily fortified firing positions.