Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Lee Sun-jin on Tuesday instructed frontline commanders to maintain tight combat readiness, citing the possibility of North Korea's unexpected military provocations.

"Around-the-clock operational readiness should be maintained so that we can automatically and powerfully react if the North Korean military launches sudden provocations," he was quoted as saying by the JCS during his visits to the First Army Command.

"If the enemy launches another provocation, they should be retaliated against severely, without hesitation, to feel the dire costs of the provocation," Lee also said during his subsequent visit to the Third Army Command.

The two field armies are each in charge of defending the eastern and western halves of the heavily-fortified inter-Korean border.

South Korea could bring about the Aug. 25 agreement after North Korea's landmine and shelling provocations in early August thanks to the military's resolute military reactions to the provocations, he highlighted.

The landmine attacks maimed two South Korean soldiers in early August, sharply escalating military tensions between the two Koreas, which were resolved in a marathon negotiation later in the month.

Lee's latest military inspections highlight the importance of the military's tight combat readiness at a time when North Korea is spurring security tensions, the JCS said, referring to a North Korean music band's abrupt cancellation of concerts in China and repeated blaming of Seoul for the collapse of recent inter-Korean talks. (Yonhap)