INTERVIEW – Accident or provocation, the incursion of around ten soldiers into the border area with South Korea this Tuesday is part of a series of hostile acts in a context of tension at its peak, analyzes researcher Barthélémy Courmont.
For the second time in ten days, several dozen North Korean soldiers crossed the inter-Korean demarcation line, before retreating under warning fire from the South Korean army. The incursion came hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Pyongyang for a rare state visit.
Barthélémy Courmont is research director in charge of the Asia-Pacific Program at IRIS and professor at the Catholic University of Lille.
LE FIGARO. – Should we be worried about this incursion, the second in ten days?
Barthélémy COURMONT. – I wouldn’t say it’s something to really worry about. Pyongyang continues its gesticulations, following what has been happening in recent days, in particular with the sending of balloons filled with waste and excrement. It’s a war of nerves where Pyongyang is trying to flex its muscles, and prove to Seoul that it is in a position of strength. This is not, however, proof of a desire for recourse…
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