North Korean officials are considering resuming propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers toward their rivals in South Korea to counter what they say are “escalating” military provocations along the border.
On Monday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and one of his closest advisors, accused Republic of Korea forces of firing at their soldiers and transmitting warnings over loudspeakers.
“Since last August, the South Korean military warmongers have been threatening the safety of our soldiers by firing warning shots with automatic rifles and large-caliber machine guns, making baseless accusations that our personnel mobilized for the construction of barriers on the southern border had ‘crossed the border,’” she said in a statement released by the government in Pyongyang.
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She said North Korea is considering reintroducing loudspeaker broadcasts to South Korea as “preemptive and suppressive measures in preparation for contingencies,” along with reviewing reinforcing tactical strike capabilities along the entire southern border.
“We issue a stern warning against the reckless actions of the South Korean military thugs, who are escalating the situation while constantly threatening the border security of [North Korea] and the personal safety of our soldiers,” she said. “Seoul will surely face a danger that will be regrettable and difficult to handle due to the useless bravado of military gangsters.”
Earlier this month, South Korea formally blamed North Korea-planted mines for the Sept. 21 blasts at the border, urging the North to apologize and remove other mines. That announcement came after North Korea denied responsibility for the explosions and warned of strong retaliation if provoked.
In recent years, tensions along the Korean border, one of the world’s most heavily fortified, have increased as North Korea added mines, barbed wire fences, anti-tank barriers and other front-line fortifications in line with its policy of terminating ties with South Korea.
South Korea’s military earlier said North Korean soldiers violated the border’s military demarcation line 50 times this year during their fortification works. South Korea’s military said it responded by firing warning shots and making warning broadcasts. It didn’t immediately respond to the latest North Korean warning.
In 2015, mine blasts blamed on North Korea that maimed two South Korean soldiers pushed the Koreas to the brink of an armed conflict, after South Korea resumed front-line loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts for the first time in 11 years.
Loudspeaker broadcasts are one of the old-fashioned, Cold War-era psychological warfare campaigns the two Koreas have occasionally used against each other in times of confrontation.
Since taking office last year, South Korea’s liberal government, led by President Lee Jae Myung, halted such broadcasts as part of efforts to improve ties with North Korea. North Korea later stopped its own broadcasts.
North Korea has recently dialed up weapons testing activities in a likely bid to pressure the United States to make bigger concessions, after President Trump renewed his efforts to restore diplomacy with Mr. Kim.
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