“Dozens of North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line (and) retreated north after warning shots” from South Korea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Seoul. The incursion occurred around 8:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. GMT Monday) hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to arrive in North Korea for a rare state visit.
Wounded North Korean soldiers
In another incident, several North Korean soldiers were injured by mine explosions while working near the border, the same source said. According to the same source, the incursion of North Korean soldiers on Tuesday was accidental and linked to the explosion of mines because all of them were carrying tools.
According to a General Staff official, these soldiers were carrying out clearing work and laying mines along the border, but “suffered many casualties as a result of repeated landmine explosions during their work.” . Despite this, the North’s military “appears to be recklessly continuing its operations,” the official added. For several months, North Korea has been working to dismantle the roads and railways that connected it to the South when relations between the two countries were better.
According to the South Korean general staff official, the North’s military is also strengthening fortifications on its side of the border by laying mines, building new anti-tank barriers and deforesting large areas. “North Korea’s activities appear to be a measure aimed at strengthening internal control, including preventing North Korean troops and North Koreans from defecting to the South,” the Joint Chiefs official said. .
Symbol
“It has a rather symbolic meaning,” according to Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Dongguk University of North Korean studies, who sees Pyongyang’s addition of new mines as a sign that they do not wish to engage with the South. . “By laying mines, North Korea is demonstrating once again that, in accordance with the instructions of the supreme leader (Kim Jong Un, editor’s note), there will be no reconciliation with the South,” he added. .
This is the second time in less than two weeks that North Korean soldiers have crossed the inter-Korean demarcation line, which separates the two states still technically at war. On June 9, several soldiers from the North briefly entered South Korean territory, and withdrew after sound warnings and warning shots from soldiers from the South.
The two Koreas are separated by a 4 km wide demilitarized zone (DMZ). The dividing line is in the middle. The North and South Korean sides of the DMZ are heavily fortified but the demarcation line itself, located in the middle of this mine-infested zone, is only marked with simple signs.
Tense period
Relations between the north and the south are currently going through one of the most tense periods in years. The two countries remain technically at war, the conflict which opposed them from 1950 to 1953 having ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has sent hundreds of balloons weighted with trash such as cigarette butts, toilet paper and even animal excrement to South Korea.
North Korea intended to respond to the sending towards the north by defector associations, also by balloon, of leaflets hostile to leader Kim Jong Un and his family, dollars in small denominations and USB keys containing K- pop and South Korean series. Seoul cannot legally prevent these shipments. The North and the South have also each installed loudspeakers near the border with the aim of resuming sound propaganda broadcasts, suspended since 2018.