North Korea is upping the tension along the inter-Korean border with talk of immediate military retaliation against any South Korean provocations and new firepower units taking up positions along the border.
The warning came as senior North Korean party and military officials inspected ongoing border fortifications, amid growing friction over disputed crossings of the Military Demarcation Line and a land mine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers last month.
According to the Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, Pak Jong-chon, a marshal of the Korean People's Army and an adviser to the Ministry of National Defence, visited key fortification sites along the southern border Tuesday. He was accompanied by Kim Yo-jong, a department director of the Workers' Party of Korea, Ri Il-hwan, a secretary of the party's Central Committee, and senior military commanders.
Kim, in a separate statement later, corrected the timeline reported by state media, clarifying that she had visited several border locations alongside Pak early Wednesday morning rather than the previous day.
She noted that the KCNA had mistakenly misreported the date of the inspection in its initial press release.
According to the KCNA report, during the inspection, Pak accused South Korea of deliberately misrepresenting North Korean military activities near the MDL.
"Our army knows where our borderline is better than any others, and we are doing what we should do in our territory," Pak said, according to KCNA's official English-language dispatch.
He warned that North Korean troops would respond forcefully if South Korean forces threatened their safety following warning broadcasts or warning shots. He also stressed that the situation had moved beyond verbal exchanges, calling for military measures capable of deterring South Korea.
Pak emphasized the need to reinforce the North's firepower capabilities to protect personnel involved in the fortification work, saying it was time to organize forces powerful enough to intimidate the enemy.
Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, meanwhile, issued a pointed warning about the North's military posture along the border.
"Our military leadership underlined the need to make those rogues aware that our new firepower units have taken their firing positions," she said, according to KCNA.
Her remarks followed a statement issued Monday in which she threatened to consider reinforcing tactical strike capabilities near the border and resuming loudspeaker broadcasts directed at South Korea.
Kim Yo-jong also reiterated that the ongoing construction work was being carried out under Kim Jong-un's directive to permanently reinforce the boundary separating North Korea from what Pyongyang now officially regards as a hostile state.
The inspection underscored Pyongyang's determination to press ahead with its border fortification campaign despite mounting friction with Seoul over military activities near the MDL.
North Korea has been reinforcing its southern border since April 2024, installing barbed-wire fences, anti-tank barriers and other defensive structures while laying additional land mines.
The construction is part of Pyongyang's broader shift toward treating the two Koreas as separate, hostile states, a policy Kim Jong-un first articulated in late 2023 when he abandoned the longstanding goal of peaceful reunification.
The fortification campaign has also heightened the risk of accidental confrontation, particularly in sections of the DMZ where the precise location of the MDL is interpreted differently by the two militaries.
Many of the original boundary markers installed under the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement have disappeared or deteriorated, leaving the two sides relying on their respective military maps to identify the dividing line.
North Korea maintains that its troops are carrying out construction within its own territory, while South Korea has repeatedly issued warning broadcasts and fired warning shots when North Korean personnel crossed what Seoul identifies as the MDL.
Tensions escalated further following a Sept. 21 explosion in the western section of the DMZ that injured three South Korean soldiers during a search operation.
A subsequent joint investigation by South Korea's military and the United Nations Command determined that the explosion was highly likely caused by a North Korean land mine planted south of the MDL.
North Korea has instead accused Seoul of fabricating the incident to justify what it describes as provocative military activities along the border.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
