North Korea weighs resuming border loudspeakers and tactical strike assets

Kim Yo-jong said in a KCNA statement on the evening of Oct. 19 that North Korea's military leadership is examining deploying more tactical strike means along the southern border and resuming loudspeaker broadcasting against South Korea. She called the southern border "very unstable" and said "warmongers of the ROK military" are threatening North Korean personnel with warning shots from automatic rifles and large-caliber machine guns. Kim claimed 2,870 South Korean loudspeaker warnings and 201 warning shots from Aug. 1 to Oct. 17; Seoul has not released matching figures. South Korea said Oct. 5 that North Korea deployed up to 7,000 workers this year to lay mines and install fences and reported about 50 crossings; work began in April 2024. Kim dismissed a Sept. 21 DMZ landmine blast as self-staged. Lim Eul-chul said Seoul has been on high alert, using warning shots and broadcasts, and that Pyongyang seems to worry those steps might escalate into conflict. South Korea's defence ministry did not immediately respond. The two Koreas remain under a Korean War armistice, not a peace treaty.