North Korea redeploys troops to surveillance posts along DMZ after withdrawing from military agreement with South Korea
Source: ABC News
November 27, 2023, 2:59 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has redeployed troops and equipment at the front-line guard posts within the Demilitarized Zone after withdrawing from a military agreement with South Korea last week.
The North Korean military has been spotted re-installing surveillance posts, according to surveillance footage provided by the South Korean military Monday. Photos taken by the South Korean Defense Ministry show temporary structures made of wood in eleven locations where they had blown up along the border in accordance with the inter-Korean military agreement signed on September 19, 2018.
"South Korean military is closely monitoring North Korean military's movements at the frontline area and maintaining readiness posture accordingly," South Korea's Defense Ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyu said during a press briefing Monday.
South Korean Joint Chief of Staff Kim Myung-soo pointed out to reporters that it was the North Koreans who withdrew from the implementation of the "9-19 North-South military agreement" and "because it is North Korea that broke the trust, we will take corresponding measures."
North Korea says it will launch three new spy satellites in 2024
2 hours ago
North Korea plans to launch three more spy satellites next year as part of efforts to ramp up its military, the country's state media has said.
Last month Pyongyang put a spy satellite into space - and claims it has since photographed major US and South Korean military sites.
Setting out his aims for 2024, Kim Jong Un also said his dealings with South Korea would see "fundamental change".
And he said he had no option but to press ahead with his nuclear ambitions.
Speaking at an end-of-year meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Mr Kim said unification with South Korea was now no longer possible. He said Seoul treats his country as an enemy.
North Korea's Kim Calls 2024 "New Heyday" of War Preparations January 1, 2024
Introduction:
(Kyoto News) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said 2024 will be "a new heyday" of war preparations in a pep talk to military commanding officers Sunday, blaming confrontational U.S. and South Korean moves for inflaming tensions, according to state-run media.
Kim told the military commanders at the office building of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang that the Korean Peninsula is "inching closer to the brink of armed conflict," the official Korean Central News Agency said Monday.
If the nation's enemies opt for military confrontation and provocation against North Korea, he said, "our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilizing all the toughest means and potentialities without moment's hesitation," according to KCNA.
In a key meeting of the ruling party that was held through Saturday, Kim said inter-Korean ties have been "completely fixed into the relations between two states hostile to each other and the relations between two belligerent states," with Seoul viewing Pyongyang as its "principal enemy."
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol renewed his commitment in a New Year's Day address to strengthening deterrence capabilities under the U.S. nuclear umbrella to protect his nation from the North's nuclear and missile threats.
North Korea continues artillery firing near maritime border with South
7 January 2024
Seoul, Jan 7 (EFE).- North Korea carried out artillery firing for the third consecutive day on Sunday near the maritime border with the South, the military said.
Artillery shots were directed towards waters north of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, according to a South Korean military source cited by the local Yonhap news agency.
The source said the projectiles did not breach the maritime boundary between the two countries.
The live-fire exercises began at 4 p.m. local time, and while no damage was reported, local authorities have advised residents of the island and territories near the maritime boundary to exercise caution when outdoors.
The military source noted that South Korean troops maintained their state of readiness in response to North Korean maneuvers, and as of now, there are no plans to engage in similar exercises in retaliation.
South Korean president reiterates that Seoul will not seek its own nuclear deterrent
February 7, 2024, 4:11 PM
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol reiterated that the country would not seek its own nuclear deterrent in the face of threats from nuclear-armed North Korea as he vowed further efforts to sharpen nuclear deterrence strategies with ally United States.
In a pre-recorded interview with KBS television that aired Wednesday night, Yoon insisted that South Korea clearly has the technology to quickly acquire nuclear weapons capabilities if it ever decides to do so. But taking that step isn’t a realistic option as it would ruin a trade-dependent economy, he said.
“If we develop nuclear weapons, we will receive various economic sanctions like North Korea does now, and our economy will be dealt a serious blow,” Yoon said, while emphasizing Seoul’s commitment to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Yoon, a conservative who took office in 2022, has made similar comments before as he pushed for stronger reassurances from Washington that it would swiftly and decisively use its nuclear capabilities to defend its ally in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to accelerate his country's weapons tests while issuing provocative threats of nuclear conflict with the South.
