North Korea on Monday threatened to draft plans to take military action into areas that were disarmed under a previous agreement with the South.- Troops and weapons from 22 guard posts at the border, 11 for each country, were previously withdrawn.
- Pyongyang, which has long been viewed to manufacture crisis to its political advantage, has pointed to North Korean defectors living in the South as their source of ire.
North Korea on Monday threatened to draft plans to take military action into areas that were disarmed under a previous agreement with the South, in response to what it described as deteriorating relations.
In a statement released by the country's propaganda media outlet, Korean Central
"Our Army will rapidly and thoroughly implement any decisions and orders of the Party and government," the North Korean military said, adding that it would organize an "action plan for taking measures to make the Army advance again into the zones that had been demilitarized under the North-South agreement."
The KPA threatened the plan would "turn the front line into a fortress and further heighten the military vigilance against the South."
In 2018,
Despite several high profile summits with President Moon and President Donald Trump, North Korea has since jettisoned its feelings of good-will and began to threaten its neighbors. Earlier this month, North Korea cut off its official communications line with the South and threatened to "collapse" a joint North-South liaison office.
Pyongyang, which has long been viewed to manufacture crisis to its political advantage, has pointed to North Korean defectors living in the South as their source of ire. North Korean defectors and South Korean human rights activists have flown leaflets containing pro-democracy messages past the border via balloons, with some containing portable USB drives with South Korean TV shows and music.
Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, denounced the South Korea-based operation and described it as "evil intention," according to the country's propaganda outlet.
The South Korean government does not endorse the leaflet campaign from the peace activists and recently moved to enact legislation to ban the practice.
"North Korea keeps control by blocking outside information," North Korean defector Lee Min Bok, who has flown the leaflets for 15 years, said in a previous Associated Press report. "To destroy it peacefully, the influx of information is necessary."
The South Korean Unification Ministry's vice minister is scheduled to visit the border and condemn the leaflet campaign; and inspect the status of the country's policing efforts.
"The visits are in line with the government's position that the act of scattering leaflets ... heightens tensions between the South and the North and causes danger to the lives and safety of residents in border regions," a South Korean ministry spokesperson said, according to The Korea Herald.