SEOUL: North Korea has moved new units into “firing positions”, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un said on Wednesday, days after Pyongyang warned that it was considering deploying additional strike capabilities along its border with South Korea.
Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang have soared since the South last month blamed an explosion inside the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two countries by land on mines laid by North Korea, an accusation the North has rejected.
“Our military leadership underlined the need to make those rogues aware that our new firepower units have taken their firing positions,” Kim Yo Jong said, according to state media.
Her statement came a day after Seoul warned of a “firm” response to further North Korean provocations.
She added that Kim Jong Un had “issued an order to fortify the border with an enemy state to make it eternally impregnable”.
The statement came as the Korean Central News Agency reported that Marshal Pak Jong Chon of the armed forces had inspected “pivotal positions” along the border, telling troops that it was “time to organise firepower strong enough to strike terror into the enemy’s heart”.
“If the enemy troops make a provocation that actually threatens the safety of our service personnel… the border forces of the DPRK must take very proficient, specialised and overwhelming military action,” he said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name.
Serious development
Hong Sung-pyo, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs, told AFP on Wednesday that the reported troop movements should be taken seriously.
“These are small military positions — essentially guard posts or fighting positions for units armed with individual firearms — and it looks like North Korea has been moving them forward,” he said.
“Of the developments we have seen so far, this appears to be among the most serious. North Korea has conducted various demonstrations of its firepower, but this now appears to be about operational deployment.”
North Korea has separately tested a series of weapons recently, including a “new-type” precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile, both of which were said to use AI technology.
South Korea’s military on Tuesday accused Pyongyang of attempting to shift the blame for escalating military tensions, while confirming that the use of loudspeakers and warning shots constituted “legitimate defensive measures to prevent North Korean troops from crossing the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) and to drive back troops that have crossed it”.
Jin Yong-sung, chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, also ordered the military to “respond with firm resolve” if North Korea used Seoul’s actions as a pretext for aggressive action.
Kim Yo Jong said a day earlier that the South’s use of loudspeaker broadcasts and warning shots had “gone beyond the red line”, while threatening to deploy “more tactical strike means along the southern border”.