Border tensions heighten as North Korea builds up drone incursion claims

The South Korean military is closely watching developments and making necessary preparations in response to the North Korean military ordering its troops near the border to be prepared to open fire.

Col. Lee Sung-jun, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, told reporters Monday that the South Korean military is “prepared for any actual provocation.”

”The responsibility for current circumstances lies entirely with North Korea, and we strongly warn them to stop with their gross and low-grade launches of trash balloons,” he said.

He said that if North Korea engages in a provocation, the South would “respond strongly based on our rights to self-defense.” ”Our military has been trained and instructed to take preemptive action, and to report and respond firmly,” he stressed.

Lee added, however, that the JCS was unable to confirm whether the announcement by the North Korean military of having its border troops ready to fire was true. Confirming claims raised by the North would feed into its strategy, he explained.

The South Korean military is monitoring signs of North Korea dismantling roads connecting to the South, in continuation of its move to fortify the border areas.

Lee said South Korean military surveillance has spotted workers being deployed for construction on the inter-Korean roads on the east and west coasts. ”It is possible that the roads could be destroyed as early as sometime today,” he said.

The JCS believes North Korea is likely to put on a demonstration of road explosions and other small-scale provocations in a bid to “turn the situation around.”

Kim Myung-soo, the chief of the South’s JCS, said last week that North Korea had completed cutting off roads and railways leading to the South by August, under the North’s leader Kim Jong-un’s push for his two Koreas suggestion.

The latest escalation in border tensions follows North Korean accusations of a South Korean drone infiltrating Pyongyang.

In a statement carried by Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sunday, the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army gave “pre-operation instructions” to fully armed border artillery corps to be on standby for “important fire missions” by 8 p.m. Sunday, citing what it claims to be a drone incursion by South Korea.

The General Staff of the North Korean army said it ordered all levels of armed forces to be ready to strike a South Korean drone should such trespassing happen again, even if the strike escalates into a military confrontation.

The General Staff also asked vigilance and anti-aircraft surveillance to be increased around Pyongyang in case of another South Korean drone entering the capital, as it continues to claim.

While North Korea says South Korean drones trespassed into Pyongyang and dropped anti-Kim Jong-un regime leaflets three times this month, the South Korean military has said it has not sent any drones.

The Ministry of National Defense in Seoul maintains that no military drone was sent across the border and that it has “nothing to confirm” about the North Korean claims of such infiltration taking place.

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, threatened a “terrible tragedy” if South Korean drones reappeared in Pyongyang skies on Saturday to which Seoul’s Defense Ministry responded with a warning of regime destruction.

In a separate statement, Pyongyang’s Defense Ministry said the same day it believes the South Korean military to be behind the alleged drone infiltration. Another South Korean drone crossing the border would be considered a declaration of war, it added.

Rep. Park Jie-won, former National Intelligence Service director, told The Korea Herald on Monday that the South Korean defense ministry was “doing the right thing by neither confirming nor denying” the accusations from North Korea.

“We risk playing into their tactics by commenting on their accusing us of serious violations,” he said.

Park was named the head of the Democratic Party of Korea committee for inter-Korean security formed Monday in light of the recent developments surrounding the drone claims.

The former South Korean spy chief suggested the South Korean government consider barring activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North to prevent a possible armed conflict from taking place.

“Freedom of expression is important but so is safety. There is no need to fan border tensions,” he said.