South Korea’s military declared itself “fully ready” on Monday after North Korea, exasperated by drone leaflet dropping on Pyongyang, ordered troops to be ready to open fire.
Pyongyang warned on Sunday that one more drone would be considered “a declaration of war”, in the words of a spokesperson for the North Korean Defense Ministry quoted by the official KCNA agency.
The North Korean regime complains of several drone flights since October, which have dropped propaganda leaflets on the capital full of ‘inflammatory rumors and nonsense’ and accuses Seoul of being responsible.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun denied any involvement, before a clarification from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) which declared ‘not being able to confirm whether the North’s allegations -Korean statements were true or not’.
Local speculation points to militant groups in South Korea that have a history of spreading propaganda and dollars to the North, usually by balloons.
Ready to open fire
North Korea insists on the responsibility of the Seoul authorities and indicated on Sunday evening that it had ordered eight artillery brigades to ‘fully prepare to be able to open fire’, and had reinforced aerial observation posts in Pyongyang.
“Our army is closely monitoring the situation and stands fully ready to respond to provocations from the North,” Lee Seong-joon, a spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) responded on Monday during a press briefing, reproaching the North for its ‘shameless’ accusations.
North Korea has complained that drones have penetrated the airspace above its capital three times since the start of the month. These overflights are an ‘unforgivable and malicious provocation towards our state’, judged on Saturday Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, an influential figure in the North Korean regime, threatening a ‘horrible catastrophe’ if this does not stop.
Russia for its part accused Seoul on Monday of leading a ‘reckless provocative campaign’ in North Korea, and of fueling an ‘escalation of tensions’ on the peninsula.
Russia and North Korea have strengthened their cooperation since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, to the great dismay of South Korea, which for its part supports Ukraine in its armed conflict with Moscow and which adopted sanctions against him.
While the two Koreas remain technically at war, the very deadly conflict of 1950 to 1953 having resulted in an armistice and not a peace treaty, the United Nations Command in Korea, which oversees the armistice, declared to have taken note of the North Korean accusations.
“The command is currently investigating in strict accordance with the armistice agreement,” he said.
‘Creating anxiety’
South Korea’s military said Monday that the North appeared to be preparing to carry out explosions on roads linking it to South Korea, after the North Korean regime announced plans to seal off the border by making it impassable.
A measure intended to ‘completely separate’ the territory of North Korea from that of the South, according to the Korean People’s Army, the North’s armed force.
For Mr. Lee, spokesperson for the South Korean general staff, these explosions could take place as early as Monday.
Since May, North Korea has sent several thousand balloons loaded with garbage to the South, causing air traffic disruptions, fires or hitting government buildings, in retaliation, it says, for balloons broadcasting propaganda sent by South Korean militants towards its territory.
According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the North Korean accusations about the drones may be part of an attempt by Pyongyang to encourage the North Korean population to close ranks.
Pyongyang may also be looking for an excuse to ‘stage provocations or create anxiety and confusion in our society,’ said Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson for the South Korean Unification Ministry. from a press briefing.
It is, however, ‘more likely’, according to Yang Uk, a researcher at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies, that the drones were launched by activists in the South rather than being a total invention by the North.
‘Even if they blow it out of proportion, it would reveal a significant vulnerability on their part in the sky,’ he says. He adds that ‘if the dissemination of information by drones became regular, it would be a real problem for North Korea’ because the North Korean power depends heavily on total control of information to maintain power.
/ATS
