SEOUL, (AFP) – - South Korean and US troops went on higher alert after North Korea announced it is scrapping the armistice that has been in force on the peninsula for more than five decades.

“As of 7:15 am Thursday (2215 GMT Wednesday), the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command upgraded Watch Conditions by a notch to Stage Two,” Seoul’s defence ministry said in a statement.

“Surveillance over the North will be stepped up, with more aircraft and personnel mobilised,” said spokesman Won Tae-Jae.

North Korea announced Wednesday it was abandoning the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War and warned it could launch a military attack on the South, two days after testing an atomic bomb for the second time.

Full Story@ AFP/Yahoo SG