North Korea plans to resume anti-Seoul propaganda broadcasts along the heavily armed border with South Korea, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said Wednesday, as tensions rise after land mine blasts injured South Korean front-line soldiers.1,3
Kim Yo Jong, who serves as her brother's top spokesperson on Washington and Seoul, made the announcement after visiting front-line areas where North Korean troops are reinforcing the border. She renewed a threat to retaliate against any South Korean provocation aimed at that fortification work. In a follow-up statement on Thursday, she said the North would place "new counter means" on alert along the border and have its loudspeakers on "standby" within days.1
"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," Kim Yo Jong said, using the initials of South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea. Al Jazeera described the same announcement as a plan to place loudspeakers along the entire border.1,3
North Korea has been adding mines, barbed wire fences, anti-tank barriers and other fortifications to what is already one of the world's most heavily armed borders. Al Jazeera reported that the North has been reinforcing its side of the demilitarized zone since 2024 as it seeks to establish what it calls a permanent border with the South. Touring the area with Marshal Pak Jong Chon, one of Kim Jong Un's top military officials, Kim Yo Jong called the work a "sacred and great undertaking" that supports the leader's policy of permanently severing ties with South Korea.1,3
The fighting of words follows a border incident in September. NPR reported that the Sept. 21 land mine blasts injured three South Korean front-line soldiers, while Al Jazeera said two soldiers were seriously wounded. After an inspection with the U.S.-led United Nations Command, Seoul formally blamed North Korean-planted mines for the blasts and urged the North to apologize and clear its remaining mines. North Korea denies responsibility, and Al Jazeera reported that Pyongyang calls the incident a South Korean fabrication.1,3
South Korea's military has said North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line 50 times this year during fortification work, and that it responded with warning shots and broadcasts. Kim has called South Korea's claims of border crossings a "false pretext" and said provocations have increased "beyond the red line" since the mine blasts. Seoul has said its warning shots were "legitimate and defensive measures." Kim Yo Jong warned that if the warning shots cause "actual harm to our territorial security and our service persons' safety," North Korean border guards "will show no mercy for the armed gangsters bereft of reason."1,3
During Tuesday's border inspection, Pak accused the South of making "deliberate, premeditated and absurd" claims to shift blame for rising tensions and threatened an "overwhelming response" to South Korean provocations. He also denied that North Korean soldiers were breaching the border during fortification work, saying "our army knows where our borderline is better than any others," according to KCNA. The state-run Korean Central News Agency first reported the border visit as taking place on Tuesday, but Kim later corrected the date to early Wednesday in a separate statement.1
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Jin Yong-Sung, called Kim's threats "intolerable" and ordered the military to "sternly respond" to potential provocations from the North. Asked about the threat to resume loudspeaker broadcasts, Defense Ministry spokesperson Chung Binna said Thursday that Seoul would need to take "proportionate measures" in response to the North's moves along the border, but she did not say what steps were under consideration. South Korea's military and Ministry of Unification have urged Pyongyang to return to talks to resolve their differences.1,3
Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it would send a letter to the UN Security Council. The letter, a ministry spokesperson told a briefing, will claim the blast was caused by North Korean-planted mines and constituted a violation of the Korean War armistice. It will demand an apology from Pyongyang and urge dialogue to prevent escalation.3
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's liberal government halted its loudspeaker broadcasts after taking office last year, with Lee having taken office in June, according to Al Jazeera, and it also dismantled fixed border loudspeakers, which Seoul described as key confidence-building measures. North Korea then stopped its own broadcasts. Kim Jong Un has since cut off diplomacy and cooperation with South Korea and declared it a permanent enemy, while a years-long stalemate in nuclear negotiations with Washington continues. Al Jazeera said the new threats are a blow to Lee's efforts to ease hostility and will raise tensions along the frontier to their highest level since he took office.1,3
Kim Yo Jong warned Seoul of "the most horrible and distressing situation" if it continues what Pyongyang calls interference in North Korea's internal affairs. Speaking to soldiers during her visit, she said the military leadership had underlined the need to make "those rogues aware that our new firepower units have taken their firing positions," and she reminded them of her brother's order to make the border with the "enemy... eternally impregnable."1,3
