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North Korea says it will restart propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts along its entire border with South Korea within days.
Getting into it: Kim Jong Un’s influential sister, Kim Yo Jong, spoke Wednesday after an inspection of border fortifications alongside Marshal Pak Jong Chon, saying the loudspeakers would be running along the whole border by the end of October. She moved that timeline up on Thursday, saying the speakers would be on standby within days and that “new firepower units” had taken up firing positions.
She also accused South Korean troops of firing warning shots and broadcasting warnings at several spots along the border Wednesday, and threatened to retaliate if they cause any harm to North Korean soldiers.
“Our tactical hunting teams are taking new positions, and within October, the loudspeakers for psychological warfare against the ROK will be in operation along the whole border,” Kim said, warning that North Korean border guards “will show no mercy for the armed gangsters bereft of reason.”
To the contrary, South Korea says North Korean troops have crossed the military demarcation line about 50 times this year while fortifying the border, and that its warning shots are meant to push them back. North Korea denies the crossings, with Pak calling Seoul’s claims an “absurd assertion.” If the broadcasts resume, it would be the first loudspeaker exchange across the border in 16 months.
Jin Yong-sung, chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the threats were “intolerable” and told troops to “sternly respond” to any move by the North, while a Defense Ministry spokesperson said Seoul would take “proportionate measures” if the North follows through, without saying what those would be.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry also plans to formally complain to the UN Security Council over a Sept. 21 blast that injured three South Korean soldiers, two seriously. Pyongyang has dismissed the accusation as a “self-staged farce.”






