SEOUL—The two Koreas traded threats on Friday following a brief exchange of fire a day earlier, in a confrontation that experts say carries a risk that the inexperienced North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un will provoke South Korea to launch a major military retaliation.
The standoff is the first major test of Mr. Kim’s ability to handle a military clash with South Korea along the heavily armed border.
In a step up from smaller border skirmishes last year, North Korea launched rockets on Thursday into remote areas over the border in response to anti-Pyongyang propaganda that South Korea has been blasting across the frontier through speaker systems. Seoul responded by firing dozens of artillery rounds at North Korean bases.