Kim Yo-jong, toward South Korea: “Armed thugs, today at two locations carried out warning-broadcast provocations and warning shots”… announces activation of anti-South loudspeakers within this month - 경향신문

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North Korean Defense Ministry adviser Pak Jong-chon (third from left) inspected key points of the southern border fortification construction site on the 20th together with Workers Party Secretary Ri Il-hwan, Party department director Kim Yo-jong (fourth from left), and key commanders of the General Staff, the Korean Central News Agency reported on the 21st. Yonhap News

Kim Yo-jong, director of the Workers Party of Korea Secretariat, on the 21st signaled that within this month anti-South psychological-warfare loudspeakers will be operated across the entire inter-Korean border area. North Korean Defense Ministry adviser Pak Jong-chon, while inspecting the southern border fortification site that day with Director Kim, stated that “when the enemy carries out provocations, they must never be tolerated and must be countered immediately.” Concerns are being raised that North Korea, taking issue with the South Korean military warning broadcasts and warning fire in response to its border fortification, is heightening military tensions by mentioning a resumption of anti-South loudspeakers and military responses.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, Kim said in a statement that day that “within October, psychological-warfare loudspeakers targeting South Korea will enter operational status along the entire border line.”

Kim said, “If the border becomes permanent, the risk of military clashes in this area will be eliminated beyond doubt,” adding, “Armed thugs today, at least at two locations, conducted loudspeaker warning-provocation broadcasts and warning shots and were in a flurry.”

Kim said, “The border was clearly blocked and is becoming increasingly fortified,” adding, “This serves as clear evidence that a long-miswritten history is being corrected and that the safety of the DPRK today and in the future is being qualitatively guaranteed.”

Kim noted, “The head of state emphasized that the fact of facing a border with the most squalid and hideous enemy in the world is a terrible tragedy, and therefore that border line must become a permanent line that can never be crossed.” The head of state refers to State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un.

Kim stated, “If the enemy provocations with warning fire go beyond a warning nature and result in harm to the safety of our territory and the personal safety of our service members, our border soldiers will mercilessly deal with the armed hoodlums who have lost reason.”

On the 19th, Kim also issued a statement, saying, “The situation on the southern border is very unstable right now,” and, “We are reviewing the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts targeting South Korea.”

Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, “Since the DMZ land-mine explosion incident, South Korea appears to have been excessively proactive in conducting warning broadcasts and fire, and they seem to judge that this is hindering the border-ization project,” adding, “By hinting at resuming anti-South loudspeakers, they are signaling that if South Korea does not stop the warning broadcasts and fire, they will respond in kind.”

Since April 2024, North Korea has been carrying out fortification work to turn the MDL into a de facto border line by moving across the MDL to install roads and fences and to lay mines. South Korean military authorities judge that North Korean troops violated the MDL on more than 50 occasions in August to September this year and are responding with warning broadcasts and warning fire. The government announced on the 21st of last month that the DMZ land-mine explosion that occurred on the western front was caused by mines laid by North Korean troops in the process of making the MDL into a border line.

In the morning that day, Kim said she visited the southern border fortification construction site together with adviser Pak, Workers Party of Korea Central Committee Secretary Ri Il-hwan, and senior commanders of the General Staff.

Pak conveyed that he “expressed an important position regarding the grave provocative acts of enemies who are attempting to obstruct our exercise of sovereignty being carried out within the sovereign domain of the Republic.”

In the position statement, Pak said, “The gang of hoodlums before our eyes is trying to use the barrier construction that our army is conducting as part of normal border-strengthening work as a pretext for provocation.”

Pak said, “If, following warning broadcasts and warning fire, the enemy in the days ahead carries out provocations that actually threaten the safety of our soldiers, they must never be tolerated and must be countered immediately,” adding, “The border forces of the DPRK must respond to the vile enemy antics with very skillful, professional, and overwhelming military action.”

Kim said, “The head of state has ordered that there must not be a concession of even one inch in exercising territorial sovereignty and that the border line with the hostile state must be made the most permanent line,” adding, “The historic process of making the southern border of the DPRK permanent is absolutely irreversible.”

It is interpreted that by having the party and military top leadership visit the southern front, North Korea sought to emphasize the legitimacy of border fortification and to signal its intention for a military response. Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said, “The party and military top leadership are all mobilized, which appears to be a resolution of rupture to convert the vicinity of the MDL into a permanent hostile border line,” adding, “In accordance with an order from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, they are displaying a resolve to constrain the South Korean military legitimate security responses and to complete the fortification project without a hitch.”

Yang Moo-jin, a distinguished professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said, “With no liaison or dialogue channels, the announcement by the militaries of both sides of tit-for-tat actions suggests that heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula will likely continue for the time being.”