S Korea army put on alert on eve of

SEOUL, October 29 (Itar-Tass) - The armed forces of South Korea were
put on high alert this week. This has been done in connection with the
upcoming summit of the leaders of the Group of Twenty due to be held in
Seoul on November 11-12, in order to rebuff any attempts to disrupt the
forum made by North Korea or international terrorism, a spokesman for the
Korean army's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday.
To this end, he said, the armed forces are working closely with
American troops stationed in the south on the Korean Peninsula and in
Japan, that are jointly monitoring the movements of the North Korean army
for ensuring security of the G20 summit.
According to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea's military went on
its highest alert of security preparedness this week ahead of the G20
summit in Seoul to counter any possible disruptions by North Korea or
international terrorists, military officials said Friday. The South Korean
military is also working closely with US forces stationed in the South and
Japan to monitor movements by the North's armed forces to ensure safety
for the summit, officials said.
"The alert level has been raised to its highest from Wednesday," said
an official for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). "The monitoring
of North Korea will remain at the highest level until November 13."
South Korea, this year's rotating chair of the G20, hopes to raise its
global profile through the November summit. Security is a top concern for
the country technically in a state of conflict with North Korea since the
1950-53 Korean War ended in an uneasy armistice, not a peace treaty.
Since September, the JCS has set up a command centre that serves as a
central part of security operations with some 10,000 troops from the Army,
Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps taking part. The command centre also
coordinates with other security agencies, including the Presidential
Security Service, the National Police Agency and the National
Intelligence Service, JCS officials said, according to Yonhap.
Police are mainly in charge of security on streets and at the summit
venue in Seoul, while the military provides policing for the skies and
seas.
"Using enhanced reconnaissance assets with the US, the military is
keeping a close eye on activities by North Korean armed forces," the JCS
official said on the condition of anonymity. The military is conducting
drills to cope with possible military provocations by North Korea,
including seaborne infiltrations across the tense Yellow Sea border or
terror attacks by ultra-light airplanes, the JCS said.
In addition to the military, some 50,000 police officers, including 20,000 riot police, arebeing mobilized in phases nationwide for the summit.