The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of south Korea convened an emergency meeting of operation commanders on January 7 to give an instruction for "maintaining high alert" over "provocation" from the north and order his inferiors to stand in confrontation for "strong punishment".

The defense minister appeared in the Missile Command known as control tower of Kill Chain, one of the preemptive strike system against the north, on January 9, to examine the posture of military counteraction and cry out for "prompt and accurate retaliation."

On the same day the chief of Staff of the navy went busy inspecting Yonphyong Island, the advanced base 222 of the navy and the Second Fleet Command, stirring up war fever against the north.

Timed to coincide with the above-said war hysteria, ground, naval and air units of the south Korean army staged madcap war drills under the simulated conditions of battles for occupying areas of the north, firing at random bullets and shells on the ground and in waters and air from near the forefront areas including the central and eastern sectors of the front and hottest spot in the West Sea of Korea.