Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has issued a new threat to South Korea, stating that anti-South Korea loudspeakers will be activated along the border by the end of October. In a statement on Thursday, October 22, she warned Seoul of "the most horrible and distressing situation" if South Korea continued to interfere in the North's internal affairs.
New Countermeasures Announced
Kim Yo Jong lashed out at South Korea earlier this week and threatened to deploy additional weapons along its border. She has now said unspecified new countermeasures are on alert. She visited fortification sites with senior military officials on Wednesday and subsequently announced the loudspeaker activation.
Loudspeaker broadcasts are one of the Cold War-era psychological warfare campaigns the two nations have used in times of confrontation. The countries would broadcast propaganda across the border. South Korea would broadcast K-pop music and news that have long rattled Pyongyang and prompted tit-for-tat responses.
Border Tensions Escalate
The North Korean leader's sister said tactical units had taken up new positions and accused South Korean troops of conducting warning broadcasts and warning shots at multiple locations near the border. The South said warning shots were fired as "legitimate and defensive measures".
Kim said that her country's troops would "mercilessly eliminate" South Korean forces if warning fire resulted in harm to North Korean territory or personnel. South Korea's defence ministry told a news briefing that Seoul would take "proportionate measures" if North Korea acted on its threats.
The Koreas are separated by a demilitarised zone, which was established after the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953. Tensions along the border have increased in recent years as North Korea added mines, barbed wire fences, anti-tank barriers and other front-line fortifications in line with its policy of terminating ties with the South.
It came after KCNA released photographs apparently showing Kim Jong Un and his daughter visiting a clothing and footwear exhibition in Pyongyang on Monday. The images were published a day after a US-based Chinese dissident claimed on social media that Kim had suffered a brain haemorrhage and died in a hospital in Beijing. No evidence was provided to support the claims.
