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More than 50 North Korean submarines are apparently away from their bases for operations, a sign that the North is gearing up for combat while participating in high-level talks aimed at easing tension, an official here said Sunday.

“Seventy percent of North Korea’s submarines left their bases, and their locations are not confirmed,” the South Korean military official told reporters.

The North is known to have around 70 submarines.

North Korea has also doubled the number of its artillery troops on the border, with the command to be combat-ready, according to South Korea’s military.

The North’s conflicting signals underscored challenges in dealing with an unpredictable communist country, which has a track record of staging provocations against South Korea.

Six South Korean fighter jets, deployed to take part in the Red Flag Alaska exercise, returned home Sunday ahead of schedule. The F-16s were initially scheduled to fly back to the country later this week.

As planned, meanwhile, top government officials from the two Koreas resumed their talks at the truce village of Panmunjom.

On Thursday, North Korea gave a 48-hour ultimatum for South Korea to end propaganda broadcasts along the heavily fortified border and dismantle all loudspeakers, saying it otherwise will launch “strong military action.”

North Korea also warned Friday that it is prepared to engage in “all-out war.” The Pyongyang-set deadline for defusing the crisis passed without a military clash.

Propaganda broadcasts have become a bone of contention between the two Koreas after South Korea resumed them earlier this month for the first time in 11 years.

South Korea took the measure in retaliation against North Korea for a recent landmine attack that maimed two South Korean soldiers. South Korea accused the North of planting the mines inside the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas, a charge denied by North Korea.

North Korea views the broadcastings critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as an insult to its dignity. The isolated country is also concerned that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to Kim.

Still, South Korea has vowed to continue the psychological warfare tactic.

Tensions between the Koreas have risen dramatically since Thursday’s exchange of artillery fire.

The North fired one artillery shell across the border Thursday afternoon before firing several more rounds later in apparent anger over South Korea’s resumption of the propaganda broadcasts. South Korea fired back dozens of shells.

The North later claimed that it never started Thursday’s exchange of fire with the South and accused Seoul of fabricating the allegations that the communist nation fired first.