Tensions Rise in the East as North Korea Threatens to Invade South Korean Border

Under Kim Jong-Un’s orders, North Korea’s military has threatened to move back into zones that were demilitarised under inter-Korean peace agreements as the country continued to dial up pressure on rival South Korea amid stalled nuclear negotiations with the US.

THE General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said it is reviewing a ruling party recommendation to advance into unspecified border areas that had been demilitarised under agreements with the South, which would “turn the front line into a fortress.”

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un days earlier said the North would demolish a “useless” inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong and that she would leave it to the military to come up with the next step of retaliation against the “enemy” South.

“Our army is keeping a close watch on the current situation in which the (North-South) relations are turning worse and worse, and getting itself fully ready for providing a sure military guarantee to any external measures to be taken by the party and government,” said the KPA’s General Staff.

The North-South Divide

North and South Korea are separated by the so-called demilitarised zone (DMZ) – a buffer along the border that has separated the two countries since the Korean War in the 1950s.