North Korea’s military said it is looking into plans to enter the disarmed border zone between it and South Korea.
The threat was first made in a statement on Monday from the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army and comes amid growing tensions between the two countries.
“Our army is keeping a close watch on the current situation in which the north-south relations are turning worse and worse, and getting itself fully ready for providing a sure military guarantee to any external measures to be taken by the Party and government,” the statement, which was published in North Korea state-run media read, according to South Korea-based Yonhap News.
The statement went on to say that the North Korean military is studying “an action plan for taking measures to make the army advance again into the zones that had been demilitarized under the north-south agreement, turn the front line into a fortress and further heighten the military vigilance against the south.”
“We will map out the military action plans for rapidly carrying out the said opinions to receive approval from the Party Central Military Commission,” it added.
Last week, Kim Yo Jong, leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, announced that North Korea would cut off communication with its southern neighbor over accusations it was allowing dissident groups to send leaflets and aid into the hermit nation using large balloons. South Korea said it would pursue legal action against two such groups after the North’s announcement.
South Korea’s top security officials held an emergency meeting on Sunday after Kim Yo Jong, who is also a top aide to her brother, threatened military action over the weekend. The dictator’s sister said that it was “high time to break with the South Korean authorities.”
“We will soon take a next action,” she said Saturday, noting that she would defer decisions on retaliation to the military leadership.
A spokesperson with the State Department reiterated to the Washington Examiner on Monday that the U.S. commitment to South Korea’s defense “remains ironclad.”
“The United States has always supported progress in inter-Korean relations, and we are disappointed in the DPRK’s recent actions and statements,” the spokesperson said. “We urge the DPRK to return to avoid provocations and return to diplomacy and cooperation. We remain in close coordination with our ally, the Republic of Korea, on efforts to engage the DPRK.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment when contacted by the Washington Examiner.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday announced that both North Korea and China have increased their nuclear arsenals as of the start of 2020. The group said North Korea now has an estimated 30-40 warheads.
“North Korea continues to prioritize its military nuclear program as a central element of its national security strategy,” the think tank said.
Kim Yo Jong has taken a more prominent role in the country recently. Prior to cutting off the military hotline between the two countries, she denounced North Korea’s defectors as “human scum little short of wild animals.” She is believed to be a potential successor to her brother, whose health came into question earlier this year during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kim Jong Un disappeared from the public eye for about 20 days in April. News reports soon circulated that he was in “grave danger” following heart surgery or was in a vegetative state. Other reports indicated that he was actually at one of his favorite resorts in the coastal city of Wonsan.
Some of those rumors appeared to be quashed when North Korean-run media announced that Kim Jong Un attended the completion of a fertilizer plant in an area north of the country’s capital of Pyongyang.
