South Korea on alert as North to ‘bomb up border roads’ amid drone conflict | Military Affairs

Seoul says it is ‘fully prepared’ for any provocation as Pyongyang sends eight artillery brigades to the border.

South Korea’s military has declared it is “fully prepared” to respond amid reports that North Korean troops have been sent to the border and are preparing to blow up roads linking the two countries along the heavily militarized border.

Tensions have risen in recent days as the nuclear-armed North accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital to drop propaganda leaflets full of “flaming rumors and rubbish”, and warned that if another drone was detected, it would consider it a “declaration of war”.

South Korean military spokesman Lee Sung-jun told reporters in Seoul on Monday that they were “fully prepared” for the possibility of “provocation” after Pyongyang ordered its border artillery to open fire in the event of an escalation.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency also quoted Lee as saying that the military had discovered that the North was installing screens on roads “to prepare for an explosion”.

“It’s possible [North Korea’s explosions] it just happened today [Monday],” he said. “If North Korea provokes, we will retaliate strongly according to our right to self-defense.”

Seoul Korea neither confirmed nor denied on Monday that it was responsible for sending the drones over the border, calling the North’s claim “shameless”.

Lee, its military spokesman, instead accused Pyongyang of sparking tensions after it launched “obscene balloons and a base of rubbish” in the South.

Earlier, Seoul denied it was behind the drone flights, with local speculation centered on activist groups in the South, which have long sent propaganda and money from the United States, South Korea’s closest ally, to the north, often by balloon.

But the North insists Seoul should be formally blamed, announcing late Sunday that it had told eight soldiers already in the war “to be ready to open fire”, and had also strengthened air surveillance posts in Pyongyang.

Pyongyang says propaganda drones have entered its airspace three times in recent days, with the sister of powerful leader Kim Jong Un threatening a “terrible disaster” unless they stop.

In a statement earlier on Monday, Kim Yo Jong said drone flights were “an unforgivable, cruel challenge to our nation”.

As part of the North’s retaliatory action, it appears to be preparing to carry out explosions on roads linked to the South, Seoul’s military said.

Last week, the North’s military announced that the move would “completely divide” North Korean territory from the South.

The two Koreas are at war after their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The cross-border roads are remnants of times of reconciliation between the countries, including the 2018 summit between the leaders where they declared that there would be no more war and that a new era of peace had opened.

North Korea has also returned heavy weapons to the border of the Demilitarized Zone and reinstated security posts, after the two sides declared a 2018 military agreement aimed at reducing tensions no longer valid.