By Deutsche Welle
14 Oct 2024, 10:58 AM EDT
According to a note from a spokesperson for the North Korean General Staff published by the state agency KCNA, “The combined artillery units in the vicinity of the border line” received an order from the military high command on October 12 to “fully prepare to open fire.”
The text assures that the General Staff estimates that “There is a high possibility of additional infiltrations by drones from the Republic of Korea (official name of the South) in national airspace and that preparations have been made taking into account “circumstances in which immediate attacks on specific enemy targets are inevitable” and that it is impossible to “rule out a subsequent armed conflict.”
The order affects eight artillery brigades “fully armed in war mode,” according to the text, which adds that “anti-aircraft observation posts have been reinforced in the capital, Pyongyang.”
Drones from the Army or from South Korean activists?
This message comes a day after Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned the South that it will face a “horrible disaster” if drones are sent to its territory againin “an unforgivable and malicious challenge to our State.” And after Pyongyang assured that several of these South Korean devices flew over the North Korean capital recently to launch propaganda pamphlets with “inflammatory rumors and garbage.”
On October 11, North Korea claimed that the South had sent drones carrying propaganda leaflets. anti-regime activists who flew over Pyongyang at least three times in the last week, published photos of one of these unmanned aircraft captured over the night sky.
Pyongyang did not specify whether the drones had been sent by the southern military or by human rights activists who regularly send this type of propaganda and US dollars in balloons from the South and claim that, on occasions, they have also managed to send drones to South Korea. North loaded with lampoons.
Roadblocks between neighboring arch-enemies
The detection of drones over the North Korean capital and Pyongyang’s warning that if it detects another droneI would consider it “a declaration of war,” comes after North Korea announced last week that it is cutting and fortifying roads and railways that connect with the South.
This action responds to a recently approved constitutional amendment in which it is believed that national borders have been unilaterally redefined by order of leader Kim Jong-un, who at the beginning of the year declared the South the main national enemy.
For its part, The South Korean Army stated this Monday (10/14/2024) that it is “fully ready” to respond to North Korea. “Our military monitors the situation closely and is fully prepared for provocations from the North,” Lee Seong-joon, spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), told reporters.
The Minister of Defense denied having any knowledge of the alleged shipment of drones to the neighboring country, while the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff neither confirmed nor denied the Army’s responsibility in sending drones to the North, although it described Pyongyang’s complaint as “shameless.”
A JCS spokesperson indicated that signs have been detected that North Korea is preparing to blow up roads on the eastern and western flanks of the border and that these could take place this Monday.
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