North Korean leader's sister, military marshal inspect border fortification site, warn of 'overwhelming' responses

Seoul, October 21 (IANS) Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and a military marshal have inspected fortification work along the inter-Korean border, with Pyongyang warning of an "overwhelming" military response to what it called enemy provocations, state media reported Wednesday.The inspection came after the South Korean military on Tuesday vowed to take "decisive" action if the North stages further provocations, following Pyongyang's threat to deploy strike means along the border.Pak Jong-chon, an adviser to the North's Ministry of National Defence, inspected key positions along the southern border the previous day to review progress on a project to fortify the border, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).During the inspection, Pak accused the enemy of making "deliberate, premeditated and absurd" claims that North Korean troops had crossed the border, Yonhap News Agency reported."Our army knows where our borderline is better than any others, and we are doing what we should do in our territory," he was quoted as saying.Pak urged troops to "turn the borderline into an impregnable fortress," calling for "very proficient, specialised and overwhelming military action in response to the reckless moves of the hideous enemy."Kim Yo-jong, a department director at the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said the North's leader issued "an order to fortify the border with an enemy state to be eternally impregnable," stressing nothing could stop the fortification effort, according to the KCNA."Our military leadership underlined the need to make those rogues aware that our new firepower units have taken their firing positions," she said.North Korea has been reinforcing its border with South Korea since April 2024, laying land mines, installing barbed-wire fences and erecting anti-tank barriers along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), after leader Kim declared the two Koreas to be "two states hostile to each other" the previous year.The fortification work has repeatedly brought North Korean troops close to or across the MDL, prompting South Korean forces to issue warning broadcasts and fire warning shots to make them withdraw.Last month, land mine explosions in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) injured three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously. South Korea and the UN Command have attributed the incident to mines planted by North Korea, which has denied involvement.On Monday, Kim Yo-jong threatened to deploy additional tactical strike assets along the inter-Korean border and to resume propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward South Korea, accusing Seoul of escalating tensions with warning shots at its troops.In response, the South Korean military warned of stern measures against any further provocations.