Kim Yo-jong says North Korea may restart border broadcasts and add tactical weapons

Kim Yo-jong said on Monday, October 19, that North Korea was considering restarting loudspeaker broadcasts toward South Korea and deploying more tactical strike assets along their border. The proposed steps would raise pressure at a frontier where the two militaries dispute warning activity and a mine incident. Kim did not announce that either measure had begun.

Why Kim Yo-jong threatened new border measures

In a statement carried by North Korean state media, Kim called the southern border ‘very unstable’ and accused South Korea’s military of threatening North Korean personnel. She said military leaders were examining additional tactical strike means, renewed broadcasts and other measures, Reuters and Yonhap reported. She gave no timetable for a decision.

Mine dispute and border construction

The warning comes amid a dispute over mine explosions in September that injured South Korean personnel. South Korea blamed mines it said the North had planted; North Korea denied responsibility and rejected Seoul’s findings, Yonhap reported. Kim called the mine account a fabricated ‘farce’ as she accused South Korean troops of endangering North Korean soldiers.

South Korea’s military said on October 5 that North Korea had deployed as many as 7,000 workers this year to install mines and fences, with about 50 border-crossing incidents, Reuters reported. The Korea Herald said crossings were concentrated largely along the eastern front, where the North has continued fortification work. Those encounters provide the setting for the warning activity disputed by the two sides.

South Korea suspended its large-scale border broadcasts, and North Korea later stopped its own broadcasts toward the South, The Korea Herald reported. Analyst Lim Eul-chul told Reuters that Pyongyang may fear Seoul’s warnings could escalate tensions near the border or cause a military conflict.