Kim Jong Un tells North Korea military to 'prepare for war' after sister threatens 'merciless elimination'

North Korean state media says their dictator Kim Jong Un has commanded the military to tune up the training and get ready for war.

The isolated country has never technically stopped being at war with South Korea, with an armistice halting the conflict but not definitively bringing an end to it.

Since then there's been a demilitarised zone on the border between them, but on 21 September a land mine explosion in the DMZ wounded three South Korean soldiers.

South Korea blamed North Korea and accused them of violating the armistice by planting a land mine as they demanded an apology, while North Korea has refused to apologise as they claimed the South Koreans made up the blast and alleged that South Korean soldiers opened fire on their troops.

Tensions have been rising since then, with sightings of North Korean artillery having been redeployed nearer the border, and Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong threatening to 'mercilessly eliminate' South Korean forces.

Tensions have been rising since a landmine explosion around the Korean DMZ wounded three South Korean soldiers (Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images)

With that stage set, the rotund dictator addressed his country's military and told them to finish off their preparations for war.

He said: "The primary revolutionary task of the company leaders is to round off the combat preparations of their units for getting fully ready for fighting a war and the way for its implementation is to bring about a radical improvement in the strenuous and intensive training."

State media said that Kim demanded his military officers 'prove' they were loyal to him with 'proud successes in turning their companies into a-match-for-a-hundred ranks with firm revolutionary faith, patriotic spirit and matchless heroic mettle and fighting efficiency'.

The dictator declared that his ultimate end goal was to 'build the strongest army and accelerate the Korean-style military revolution by training the strongest companies'.

With that build up in readiness of the North Korean armed forces there'd be concern over what exactly they think they're getting ready for.

Kim Jong Un has said he wants the North Korean military to 'build the strongest army' and get 'fully ready for fighting a war' (CCTV+/VCG via Getty Images)

Tensions have only been stoked further after North Korea launched missiles off its east coast which landed in the Sea of Japan.

South Korea's military claims that around 10 missiles were fired and flew around 155 miles before crashing down into the sea, with Japan's defence minister saying they'd detected missile launches from North Korea.

It's not so long ago that Kim had to show he was still alive following a series of claims that he'd secretly died on a trip to China and this was it for his life.

However, it didn't turn out to be the case as he's made public appearances since then to prove he's still very much alive.

Let's hope this is just more rhetoric and threats, and not the prelude to hostilities between these two countries resuming.