SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has instructed soldiers along its southern frontier to respond swiftly and forcefully if South Korean forces endanger them, state media reported Wednesday, a warning that heightens the danger of a skirmish on one of the most militarized borders in the world.
The order came during an inspection of border fortifications by Marshal Pak Jong Chon of the Korean People’s Army, who was joined by Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, and Ri Il Hwan, a secretary of the ruling party Central Committee. Kim later said the visit took place early Wednesday rather than Tuesday and that state media had first given the wrong date.
Pak rejected South Korean claims that northern troops keep straying across the Military Demarcation Line, the line that runs through the middle of the Demilitarized Zone, calling them an attempt to shift blame. He said his army knows exactly where the border is and is only working inside its own territory. He warned that troops would answer forcefully if threatened after warning broadcasts or warning shots from the South, and said the time for words had passed.
Kim said military leaders wanted the South to know that new firepower units have moved into firing positions along the border. Earlier in the week she raised the possibility of adding tactical strike weapons near the frontier and bringing back loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at the South.
Seoul had said a day earlier that it would punish any further provocation firmly. South Korean officials say the North has sent as many as 7,000 workers to the border area this year and that there have been about 50 crossings onto the southern side of the line.
The friction worsened after a Sept. 21 blast in the western part of the DMZ injured South Korean soldiers on a search mission. A joint inquiry by the South Korean military and the United Nations Command concluded a North Korean land mine laid south of the line was most likely to blame. Pyongyang says the incident was fabricated.
North Korea began fortifying the border in April 2024 with fences, anti-tank barriers and new minefields after Kim Jong Un dropped the goal of peaceful reunification in late 2023 and declared the South a hostile state. Many of the original markers placed under the 1953 armistice have vanished, leaving each side to rely on its own maps.
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