The
Army staffs of the North Korea are all set to take action against the South
Korea, if the defector groups push ahead with their campaign to send propaganda
leaflets into North Korea.
The General Staff of the Korean People's
Army (KPA) said it has been studying an ‘action plan’ to reenter zones that had
been demilitarized under a 2018 inter-Korean pact. The KPA in a statement
carried by the official KCNA, said, "Our army will rapidly and thoroughly
implement any decisions and orders of the Party and government”. Tensions have
risen as Pyongyang threatened to sever inter-Korean ties and take retaliatory
measures over the leaflets, which carry messages critical of North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un including human rights abuses.
The Defense Ministry of Seoul called for
Pyongyang to abide by the 2018 agreement, in which both sides' militaries vowed
to cease ‘all hostile acts’ and dismantled a number of structures along the
heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone between the two countries. The Ministry
spokesperson said, “We are taking the situation seriously”, adding that their
military was maintaining readiness posture to be able to respond to any
situation. Several defector-led groups
have regularly sent back flyers, together with food, $1 bills, mini radios and USB
sticks containing South Korean dramas and news, usually by balloon over the
border or in bottles by river. Kim Yo Jong had on Saturday said that his
sister, who served as a senior official of the ruling Workers' Party, had
ordered the military to prepare for unspecified ‘next action’.
On the other hands, the South Korea plans
legal action against two of the defector groups, saying their actions fuel
cross-border tensions, pose risks to residents living near the border and cause
environmental damage.