(Seoul) – South Korea's military declared it was “fully ready” on Monday after North Korea, angered by drone leaflets being dropped on Pyongyang, ordered its forces to prepare to open fire.
Pyongyang warned Sunday that another drone would be considered a “declaration of war,” in the words of a North Korean Defense Ministry spokesman quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The North Korean regime has complained of several drone flights since October, which dropped propaganda leaflets on the capital filled with “rumors and inflammatory nonsense” and blamed Seoul.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jong-hyun denied any involvement, before a clarification came from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff in which he declared “the inability to confirm whether the North’s allegations and Korean statements are true or not.”
Local speculation points to the presence of armed groups in South Korea with a history of spreading propaganda and dollars to the North, usually via balloons.
North Korea insists on the responsibility of the Seoul authorities, and indicated on Sunday evening that it had ordered eight artillery brigades “to be fully prepared to be able to fire,” and that it had strengthened air observation sites in Pyongyang.
“Our military is closely monitoring the situation and stands fully prepared to respond to provocations from the North,” Lee Seung-jun, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded Monday during a news conference, rebuking the North for its actions. “Rude” accusations.
North Korea complains that drones have violated the airspace over its capital three times since the beginning of the month. Kim Yo Jong, an influential figure in the North Korean regime, on Saturday considered these air strikes a “malicious and unforgivable provocation against our country,” and threatened a “horrific disaster” if this did not stop.
For its part, Russia accused Seoul on Monday of leading a “reckless provocative campaign” in North Korea and fueling an “escalation of tensions” on the peninsula.
Russia and North Korea have strengthened their cooperation since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, which greatly dissatisfied South Korea, which for its part supports Ukraine in its armed conflict with Moscow, and adopted sanctions against it.
While the two Koreas are still technically at war, with the extremely deadly 1950-53 conflict resulting in a truce rather than a peace treaty, the United Nations Command in Korea, which oversees the truce, has announced that it has taken into account the North Korean accusations. . .
He added, “The command is currently conducting an investigation in strict accordance with the armistice agreement.”
“Create anxiety”
The South Korean military said on Monday that North Korea appears to be preparing to carry out bombings on the roads linking it to South Korea, after the North Korean regime announced plans to close the border by making it impassable.
It is a measure aimed at “total separation” between North Korean territory and the South, according to the Korean People's Army, North Korea's armed force.
According to Mr. Lee, spokesman for South Korea's General Staff, these explosions could happen as early as Monday.
Since May, North Korea has sent several thousand balloons laden with garbage to the South, causing air traffic disruption, fires or striking government buildings, in what it says are propaganda balloons sent by South Korean militants towards its territory.
According to South Korea's Unification Ministry, the North Korean accusations about drones may be part of Pyongyang's attempt to encourage North Korean residents to unite.
Pyongyang may also be looking for an excuse to “carry out provocations or create anxiety and confusion in our society,” Ko Byung-sam, spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, said at a news conference.
However, it is “more likely”, according to Yang Ok, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, that the drones were launched by activists in the South and not invented from scratch by the North.
“Even if they blow the story out of proportion, it will reveal great weakness on their part in Heaven,” he said. He adds that “if the dissemination of information by drones becomes regular, it will be a real problem for North Korea” because North Korean power relies heavily on complete control of information to stay in power.
