North Korea brings artillery and troops back to its border with the South
North Korea has quickly reactivated 11 strategic observation posts (GPs) along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the Donga news agency reported. They had previously been withdrawn from the points in accordance with the terms of the inter-Korean military agreement.
The presence of troops and artillery was reintroduced, marking a sudden remilitarization of the Panmunjom Joint Security Area (JSA). This move comes on the heels of North Korea's Ministry of Defense announcement on the 23rd, which officially canceled the September 19, 2018 agreement and launched subsequent military actions towards the South. In response, our North Korean Armed Forces South are taking measures such as deploying artillery in GPs and strengthening the border position along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), increasing tensions in advanced regions.
On Monday, the South Korean military announced that since last Friday, North Korean forces have deployed troops and artillery to the 11 GPs within the DMZ, which were liberated under the terms of the September 19 agreement (10 destroyed, 1 preserved). . The North Korean military reportedly established makeshift observation posts at the sites of previously demolished GPs, placing recoilless rifles near the borders of the GPs. The military released four photos captured by surveillance cameras and thermal imaging devices, showing North Korean soldiers on night duty.
These images refer to North Korean GPs, including one on the Central-Eastern Front, which were withdrawn in November 2018 under the terms of the agreement of September 19 of that year. “Recovery efforts are underway at all 11 North Korean GPs, including this location,” a military official said.
In response, the ROK Army is gearing up to import K-3 and K-6 medium machine guns into its GPs, ahead of those restored by North Korea, and to install prefabricated surveillance posts and barbed wire fences . On the same day, Kim Myung-soo, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with reporters and said, “We will take immediate measures in response.”
Upon his return on Monday, President Yoon Suk Yeol was briefed by National Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Myung-soo on the North Korean military situation. President Yoon stressed that it is necessary to: “Maintain vigilant monitoring of North Korea's actions and uphold a robust military readiness posture to reassure the public.”
On the one hand it must be said that South Korea, in turn, withdrew from an agreement that should have improved the chances of peace on the Peninsula, hosting an American nuclear submarine, but at this point the warming of the border may also derive from the fact that Kim feels safe after the recent agreement with Russia and the military supplies granted.
Let's hope that this front, after seeing some trenches dug, remains calm.
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The article North Korea brings artillery and troops back to the border with the South comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-corea-del-nord-riporta-artiglieria-e-truppe-al-confine-con-il-sud/ on Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:00:50 +0000.