韩国总统命令军队应对朝鲜挑衅可不计政治后果

South Korea's president has made her strongest remarks yet in the escalating war of words with North Korea.

In a meeting Monday with defense ministry officials, President Park Geun-hye is quoted as ordering them to respond early and strongly to any provocation from North Korea, and without any regard to political consequences.

In recent weeks, North Korea has increased tensions with repeated threats of war against the South and the United States in anger over joint military exercises, as well as tightened U.N. Security Council resolutions for its third nuclear test.

It is not clear how Ms. Park's order will affect the U.S. military, which signed an agreement earlier this month giving American troops an expanded role in protecting the South from North Korean provocation.