South Korea's Marine Corps commander inspected front-line troops near the tense maritime border Thursday and stressed any provocations by North Korea will be met with bold retaliations.

"Commander, Lt. Gen. Jun Jin-goo made an unannounced visit to the Yeonpyeong unit of the front-line Udo Island and carried out an operation inspection," the Marine Corps said.

Lt. Gen. Jun Jin-goo (Yonhap)
The set of forefront islands lie just below the Northern Limit Line, the de facto sea border with North Korea, where North Korea launched a deadly attack in November 2010.

"Be prepared and positioned well enough to fight enemy provocations at any time and pull the trigger adamantly if the enemy provokes," the commander told his forces.

The latest visit was part of the commander's on-going inspections of the front-line forces' war readiness, which came amid heightened inter-Korean tensions.

During his visits to the islands of Udo and Maldo, the commander examined the forces' ability to make an initial response to a potential enemy attack, as well as their readiness to command and control real fire operations, according to the Marine Corps. (Yonhap)