North Korea plans to resume anti-Seoul propaganda broadcasts along its heavily fortified border with South Korea, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, has said, reviving a psychological warfare campaign amid rising tensions following land mine explosions that injured three South Korean front-line soldiers.
Kim Yo Jong, her brother's key spokesperson on relations with Washington and Seoul, announced the move yesterday (21 October) after visiting border areas where North Korean troops are strengthening fortifications. She also renewed threats of retaliation against any South Korean provocation targeting the ongoing construction work.
In a follow-up statement on Thursday, she said North Korea would place "new counter means" on alert along the border and put its loudspeakers on standby within days.
North Korea has been installing mines, barbed-wire fences, anti-tank barriers and other fortifications along the border, already one of the world's most heavily armed frontiers, as Kim Jong Un maintains a hard-line stance toward Seoul.
During the visit with Marshal Pak Jong Chon, one of her brother's senior military officials, Kim Yo Jong described the fortification work as a "sacred and great undertaking" in support of the leader's policy of permanently severing ties with South Korea.
Kim Jong Un has declared South Korea his most hostile adversary amid a broader diplomatic stalemate with Washington.
"Our tactical hunting teams are taking new positions, and within October, the loudspeakers for psychological warfare against the ROK will be in operation along the whole border," Kim Yo Jong said, referring to South Korea by the initials of its official name, the Republic of Korea.
She warned that if South Korean warning shots, which Seoul says are intended to push North Korean soldiers back across the border during fortification work, cause "actual harm to our territorial security and our service persons' safety," North Korean border guards "will show no mercy for the armed gangsters bereft of reason."
Asked about the threat to resume loudspeaker broadcasts, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesperson Chung Binna said today that Seoul would need to take "proportionate measures" in response to North Korea's activities along the border. She did not specify what steps the South might consider.
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency initially reported that Kim visited the border on Tuesday. However, Kim later corrected the timing in a separate statement, saying the visit took place early Wednesday.
Following an inspection with the US-led United Nations Command, South Korea formally blamed North Korean-planted mines for the 21 September explosions and called on Pyongyang to apologise and remove its remaining mines.
North Korea has denied responsibility for the blasts and warned of strong retaliation if provoked.
"Our military leadership underlined the need to make those rogues aware that our new firepower units have taken their firing positions," Kim Yo Jong told soldiers during Wednesday's visit, reminding them of her brother's order to make the border with the "enemy, eternally impregnable."
South Korea's military has said North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line 50 times this year while carrying out fortification work, prompting Seoul to respond with warning shots and loudspeaker broadcasts.
Kim Yo Jong has dismissed the South's claims of border crossings as a "false pretext" and accused Seoul of escalating provocations "beyond the red line" since the mine explosions.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Jin Yong-Sung, described Kim's threats as "intolerable" and instructed the military to respond firmly to potential North Korean provocations.
During Tuesday's border inspection, Pak accused South Korea of making "deliberate, premeditated and absurd" claims to shift blame for the rising tensions. He also threatened an "overwhelming response" to any South Korean provocation.
Pak denied that North Korean troops had crossed the border during fortification work, saying "our army knows where our borderline is better than any others," according to KCNA.
Loudspeaker broadcasts are among the Cold War-era psychological warfare tactics that the two Koreas have occasionally used against each other during periods of heightened tensions.
South Korea's liberal government, led by President Lee Jae-myung, suspended its broadcasts after taking office last year in an effort to improve relations with the North. Pyongyang later halted its own broadcasts as well.
Kim Jong Un has cut off diplomatic engagement and cooperation with South Korea in recent years, declaring the country a permanent enemy as a prolonged deadlock in nuclear negotiations with Washington continues.