(ATTN: UPDATES with more details throughout)
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned Thursday of "new counter means" along the inter-Korean border, saying propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts against South Korea will be ready within days.
Kim's warning came a day after she inspected the North's border fortification work and threatened to take military action against South Korean troops over firing warning shots at North Korean soldiers crossing the border.
"Our new counter means will get into the alert for duty at all the southern border line and the loudspeakers against the ROK will be on standby in a matter of days," Kim said in a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). ROK is the acronym for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
Kim warned Wednesday that Pyongyang would resume propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward South Korea later this month, as South Korea has vowed to respond sternly to North Korean troops crossing the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) during border fortification work.
"Within the territory where our sovereignty is exercised, the permanent project for the southern border will be surely and successfully continued according to our purposes," she said.
Kim claimed that completing the fortifications would "considerably" lower the risk of military conflict between the two Koreas.
But she warned South Korea would "face the most horrible and distressing situation" if it made a "mistake," whether intentional or not.
Kim earlier said new "firepower" units have taken their firing position and threatened to deploy tactical strike means to the border.
Pak Jong-chon (C), vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and an adviser to the North Korean defense ministry, Kim Yo-jong (in front of Pak), the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and others inspect fortification work on the border with South Korea at an unspecified location on Oct. 20, 2026, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
South Korea's military said it has detected no signs of North Korea deploying new weapon systems along the border.
"No movement to install new weapons or systems has been identified," Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson Capt. Jang Do-young said in a press briefing, adding that the South's military will closely monitor the situation.
Jang also noted the military had detected North Korean forces carrying out routine maintenance on its front-line loudspeakers even before the latest statements by Kim Yo-jong.
"North Korea must stop making groundless claims and incursions across the MDL, and positively respond to our effort to bridge the differences," Seoul's defense ministry spokesperson Chung Binna said in the briefing.
Pyongyang has pressed ahead with the fortifications since April 2024 by laying land mines, installing barbed-wire fences and erecting anti-tank barriers along the MDL, after leader Kim's declaration in late 2023 that inter-Korean relations were those between "two states hostile to each other."
North Korean troops repeatedly moved close to or crossed the MDL during border fortification work, prompting South Korean forces to issue warning broadcasts and fire warning shots to make them withdraw.
Tensions have flared up further following a Sept. 21 land mine explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that injured three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously.
The South Korean military and the U.N. Command concluded that the blast was caused by North Korean antipersonnel mines planted south of the MDL in violation of the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang has flatly denied responsibility.
On Tuesday, South Korea's defense ministry vowed to respond decisively to any further provocations, while JCS Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung ordered troops to respond sternly to enemy provocations and carry out operations to reinforce the military's initiative in the DMZ.
Kim's latest statement also targeted Kim Byung-joo, a special presidential adviser for defense policy, who had criticized Pyongyang's threat to resume loudspeaker broadcasts and called on the North to apologize for its provocations.
"The special assistant to the defense policy of Chongwadae should not talk incoherently but shut his mouth at once," Kim said.
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