South Korean troops are on guard against any military provocation by North Korea after the communist state ordered a border clampdown amid worsening ties, the defense ministry said yesterday.
The North on Monday imposed strict border controls and ordered the expulsion of hundreds of South Koreans working at the Kaesong joint industrial estate, in protest at what it calls the Seoul government’s confrontational policy.
It also halted a cross-border cargo rail service and a popular day tour.
“In response to the North’s Dec. 1 measure, surveillance and control operations are being stepped up against [any] naval attacks and attempts to kidnap fishing boats,” the ministry said.
Special training programs are also being implemented to cope with “contingencies” along the heavily fortified land border, it said in a report to parliament.
Some analysts believe the North may provoke a limited clash around the disputed border in the Yellow Sea, the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002.
The ministry report also said the North deployed new ballistic missiles last year with a range of 2,500km to 4,000km. It was building up ground forces including tanks, artillery and special warfare troops.
A defense ministry spokesman declined to elaborate on the missiles.
The report also accused the North of breaching or failing to honor most military agreements reached between the two sides, who have remained technically at war since their 1950 to 1953 conflict ended only in an armistice.
Ties have worsened since a conservative government came to office in Seoul in February, after 10 years of liberal rule marked by a “sunshine” policy of engagement and generous aid to the North.
The new government linked major economic aid to progress in the North’s denuclearization, a stance that enraged Pyongyang.
North Korea is also angry at propaganda leaflets floated by activists across the border. The activists released 10 huge gas-filled balloons yesterday carrying a total of 100,000 leaflets, the second such launch in as many days.
“Down with the Kim Jong-il dictatorship!” read a slogan on one.
The unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties, appealed again for a halt to the launches “in consideration of the current inter-Korean situation.”
It says it has no legal power to ban them.
Also unhappy at the balloons are owners of Kaesong factories. The North ordered hundreds of South Koreans to leave the Seoul-funded estate and now permits only 880 of them to work there, half the number that Seoul says are needed.
Factory representatives urged the Seoul government to stop the balloon launches.
“Some leaflets fell on a factory roof and there was a misunderstanding [that] they were spread by South Korean staff there,” said one businessman quoted by Yonhap news agency.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
RSS