South Korean military officials confirmed on Monday that communist North Korea had scattered land mines on roads between the two Koreas and had begun removing streetlights from the roads.
Officials from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the military leadership in Seoul, Said Reporters reported that in late 2023, North Korean soldiers were found planting landmines on the inter-Korean road. The road lies within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a buffer zone between North and South Korea created by the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953. Although neither side has signed a peace agreement or surrendered, the Korean War is technically still active.
The closure of transportation links to ease travel between the two countries is the latest in an increasingly bellicose move by dictator Kim Jong Un’s communist regime over the past year, and the most threatening of all. This happened after Kim Jong-un declared in January that he would no longer travel. Aiming for the unification of the Korean Peninsula. For decades, North Korea has refused to recognize South Korea’s sovereignty, insisting in state media that it is territory that legally belongs to a unified Korea ruled by Pyongyang. Mr. Kim changed that precedent in January, declaring South Korea an enemy state.
At the time, he said, “The final conclusion drawn from the bitter history of inter-Korean relations is that we cannot walk together on the path of national restoration and reunification.”
Since then, North Korea has made several threatening actions, including allegedly developing an “underwater nuclear weapons system” and carrying out a mock nuclear attack this month.
A file/billboard warning of North Korean landmines placed on a bridge between North and South Korea within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea, in Panmunjom, South Korea, February 7, 2018. (Karl Cote/Getty Images)
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, “Late last year, the military discovered that North Korea had laid mines on a dirt road in the DMZ near Arrowhead Hill in Cheorwon, 85 kilometers northeast of Seoul.” “Since late last year, North Korea has placed landmines on all roads between the two Koreas, once seen as a symbol of reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas.”
All of the roads targeted by North Korea are related to past failed efforts to ease tensions between the two Koreas, Yonhap news agency explained. For example, Cheorwon Road was built during the administration of leftist former South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Moon Jae-in has pursued a policy of placating Pyongyang, signing an agreement in 2018 to improve cross-border interconnectivity.
Moon Jae-in made history in 2018 when he became the first South Korean president to visit North Korea since 2007.Kim Jong Un praises leftist president parade, hugs, and a visit to Mt. Baekdu, an active volcano with spiritual significance in Korean culture. President Moon’s diplomacy resulted in the establishment in the same year of a “Joint Liaison Office” aimed at facilitating communication and strengthening ties between the two countries and paving the way for a formal end to the Korean War. .
President Moon never succeeded in ending the war. North Korea bombed the Joint Liaison Office in 2020, and since President Moon left office in 2022, it has largely returned to a policy of consistently threatening a nuclear attack on South Korea. However, Kim Jong-un never stopped showing his personal respect for President Moon, even sending him a farewell letter after the incident. His term ends in 2022, but North Korean state media claimed it was an “expression of deep trust” between the two leaders.
Mr. Kim has not pursued the same friendship with Mr. Moon’s successor, Yoon Seok-yeol. Yoon Seok-yeol is a hardline conservative who has invested in improving relations with the United States and strengthening South Korea’s military.
Military officials on Monday identified two other roads where North Korean soldiers have planted mines over the past year. All roads are rarely used and linked to a unified project.
“by [Wuhan coronavirus] “Due to the pandemic, South Korean authorities closed the joint liaison office in Kaesong in 2020, and this was the last time Gyeonggi Road was used.” Korea JoongAng Ilboreported on Monday that it had identified two of the other mined roads. “The Donghae Road has remained unused since the failed 2019 Hanoi summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump.”
Col. Lee Sung-jun, a South Korean JCS spokesperson, told reporters that the South Korean government would take “necessary” measures against the new landmines, but did not provide details.
The digging of land mines on roads is seen as a message to South Korea that Kim Jong Un is not open to returning to diplomacy. Kim made this clear in January, declaring: “The historic moment has finally come to define the entity called the Republic of Korea (ROK) as the most hostile state to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” did.
“Korean scum is our main enemy,” Kim declared.
FILE/South Korean soldiers clear land mines in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Cheorwon, South Korea, on October 2, 2018. (Sung Kyung-seok Pool/Getty Images)
In the same month, North Korea’s state media claimed that the country had developed an “underwater nuclear weapons system, Hail-5-23,” but provided no specifics about what the system would look like or how it would function. It was not made clear. This is the first of several declarations of military force that will address what is described as new technology. In March, Kim appeared in a photo purporting to be driving a new armored vehicle. North Korea’s state media reported that the country is currently producing “the world’s most powerful tank” with “extreme striking power and maneuverability.”
Last week, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced that Kim had personally led a “counterattack” nuclear drill that simulated a nuclear bombing of an enemy.
KCNA said, “Respected Comrade Kim Jong-un expressed great satisfaction with the results of the training, highly praising the high hit rate and accuracy of the super-large multiple rocket artillery, and it was as if he could see the firing of a sniper’s rifle.” It was reported that he said. A South Korean-style tactical nuclear strike would be a formidable force and would mean rigorous preparations for the world’s most powerful nations to mobilize faithfully. ”
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