By Joyce Lee and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, Oct 21 (Reuters) - North Korea will activate anti-South Korea propaganda loudspeakers along its entire border by the end of October, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, said on Wednesday, escalating tensions on the heavily fortified frontier.
The move threatens to reverse one of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s most-touted achievements in easing tensions with Pyongyang after his administration halted South Korea’s broadcasts and dismantled its fixed loudspeakers last year.
In a scathing statement carried by state media KCNA after a visit to the border, Kim said North Korean tactical units were taking up new positions and called the border-wide loudspeaker deployment “the most legitimate measure and an appropriate response” to South Korea’s measures.
“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,” she said, using the acronym for South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
KIM VISITED LOCATIONS ALONG THE BORDER
She said she had visited several locations along the border early on Wednesday with North Korean Army Marshal Pak Jong Chon and found that the frontier was clearly blocked and becoming increasingly fortified.
Kim accused South Korean forces of issuing loudspeaker warnings and firing warning shots in at least two locations on Wednesday. North Korean troops were exercising restraint and preparing thoroughly for any contingency, she said.
“If the enemy’s provocative warning fire goes beyond its stated purpose and results in actual harm to the safety of our territory or our soldiers, our border troops will mercilessly eliminate the armed thugs who have lost their reason,” she said.
The report came a day after Seoul pledged to punish “resolutely” any further provocation by Pyongyang if North Korea acted on threats to strengthen its military posture along the border.
Kim said new firepower units had “taken their firing positions” at the border, KCNA reported.
ARMY MARSHAL URGES ‘IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS’ AT BORDER
Tensions between North and South Korea have risen since Pyongyang began fortifying its border in April 2024. The two countries are separated by the Demilitarized Zone that was established when the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953.
Seoul says Pyongyang has sent up to 7,000 workers to the border this year, with about 50 crossings of the Military Demarcation Line, which bisects the DMZ, to South Korea’s side of the border.
On Wednesday, North Korea rejected Seoul’s allegations, with Pak dismissing the claim as an “absurd assertion” designed to shift blame, KCNA reported.
The North Korean army knew where the border lay “better than any others” and was only doing what it should within its own territory, Pak said, urging soldiers to turn the border into an “impregnable fortress”.
South Korea said North Korean mines caused a border blast last month that seriously wounded two of its soldiers, and called on Pyongyang to suspend the fortification work.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Tom Hogue, Stephen Coates, Kate Mayberry and Alison Williams)
