South Korea’s military says it fired “warning shots” near its fortified border with the North after Pyongyang blew up sections of symbolic highways linking the two countries. Around noon (local time), some sections of the road north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) that divides the countries were blown up, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message sent to media.
In response, the South Korean military “counterattacked” in areas south of the MDL, he later added.
Since North Korean President Kim Jong-un declared the South his country’s “main enemy” earlier this year, the North has laid new mines, erected anti-tank barriers and deployed missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads on along an already heavily fortified border.
Last week, Pyongyang announced it would permanently close its southern border in response to South Korea’s war drills and visits to U.S. nuclear facilities, and Seoul warned Monday that Pyongyang was preparing to blow up roads.
North Korea also accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-government propaganda leaflets on the capital, Pyongyang, and Kim called a security meeting to develop a plan for “immediate military action” in response, state media reported Tuesday.
Roads and railways connecting the two countries have long been cut, but their destruction sends a clear message that Kim is unwilling to negotiate with the South, experts say.
The North could try to erect more physical barriers along the border, Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP, adding that the detonations could be “a preparatory work for the construction of these walls”. “.
South Korea’s military initially denied sending drones into the north but later declined to comment, although Pyongyang directly blamed them, warning it would consider it “a declaration of war” if it detected another drone.
Militant groups have long sent propaganda to the North, usually by balloons, and some have also been known to fly small, hard-to-detect drones.
At Kim’s meeting on Monday, North Korean leaders heard a report about the enemy’s “serious provocation,” KCNA said, adding that Kim had “expressed a firm political and military stance.”
In 2022, five North Korean drones entered the South, the first such incident in five years, to which the South Korean military responded with gunfire and deployment of fighter jets. The planes failed to shoot down any of the drones.
In July, Seoul announced it would deploy lasers to shoot down drones this year, saying the South’s ability to respond to provocations would be “significantly strengthened.”
The new laser weapons – called Star Wars Project in the South, fire an invisible, silent beam that costs just 2,000 won ($1.45) per use, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
Relations between the two Koreas are at their lowest level in years and the North Korean military said last week it would permanently close the southern border by “completely cutting off roads and railways” connected to the South and by building “strong defense structures”. “.
After Kim’s meeting in Pyongyang, “the focus is on whether North Korea will respond by sending drones to the South or whether it will take strong action if drones infiltrate its territory again,” he said. Cheong Seong-chang, of the Sejong Institute.
“North Korea is likely to make moves along the border if drone infiltrations are repeated,” Cheong told AFP.
