With US and South Korean fighter jets taking to the skies in a show of force, the two Koreas yesterday prepared for a possible military clash as the North’s deadline loomed for Seoul to dismantle loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda across their border.
North Korea has declared its frontline troops are in full war readiness and prepared to go to battle if Seoul does not back down.
Ahead of the 5pm deadline, citizens in Pyongyang and Seoul went about their normal business yesterday.
Photo: EPA
In Pyongyang, businesses were open as usual and street stalls selling ice cream were crowded as residents took breaks under parasols from the summer sun. There were no visible signs of increased security measures, although even under normal situations the city is heavily secured and fortified.
More than 240 South Koreans entered a jointly run industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
Still, there was worry the latest conflict between the Koreas — the most serious in years — could spiral out of control.
The North’s state-run media has strongly ratcheted up its rhetoric, saying the whole nation is bracing for the possibility of an all-out war. Leader Kim Jong-un has been shown repeatedly on TV news broadcasts leading a strategy meeting with the top military brass to review the North’s attack plan and young people are reportedly swarming to recruitment centers to sign up to join the fight.
“We have exercised our self-restraint for decades,” the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday. “Now, no one’s talk about self-restraint is helpful to putting the situation under control. The army and people of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] are poised not just to counteract or make any retaliation, but not to rule out all-out war to protect the social system, their own choice, at the risk of their lives.”
People were willing to talk about the tension and, as is common in public in North Korea, they voiced support for their government’s policies and their leader. They also used phrases like “puppet gangsters” to refer to South Korean authorities, as these are everyday terms in the North, in state media and conversation.
“I think that the South Korean puppet gangsters should have the clear idea that thousands of our people and soldiers are totally confident in winning at any cost, because we have our respected leader with us,” Pyongyang citizen Choe Sin-ae said.
It was not clear if North Korea meant to attack immediately, if at all, but South Korea has vowed to continue the broadcasts, which it recently restarted after an 11-year stoppage after accusing Pyongyang of planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers early this month.
Four US F-16s and four South Korean F-15Ks simulated bombings, starting on South Korea’s eastern coast and moving toward the US base at Osan, near Seoul, officials said.
South Korea’s military on Thursday fired dozens of artillery rounds across the border in response to what Seoul said were North Korean artillery strikes meant to back up a threat to attack the loudspeakers.
US-based experts on North Korea said the land mine blast and this week’s shelling were the most serious security incidents at the border since Kim Jong-un came to power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011. The country was founded by Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung.
“If Kim Jong-il or Kim Il-sung was in charge, I would say that leadership in North Korea would recognize that South Korea has responded in kind to an attack and it’s time to stand down. But I’m not sure Kim Jong-un understands the rules of the game established by his father and grandfather on how to ratchet up tensions and then ratchet them down. I’m not sure if he knows how to de-escalate,” former US Department of State senior official on East Asia Evans Revere said.
The North denies responsibility for the land mine attack and says it did not fire across the border, a claim Seoul says is nonsense.
The standoff comes during annual military exercises between the US and South Korea, which North Korea called a preparation for invasion, although the US and South Korea insist they are defensive in nature.
Hundreds of residents in South Korean border towns had evacuated to shelters during the conflict on Thursday before returning home on Friday afternoon. Fishermen were yesterday banned for the second straight day from entering waters near five South Korean islands near the disputed western sea border with North Korea, according to marine police officials in Incheon.
Escalation is a risk in any military exchange between the Koreas, because after two attacks blamed on Pyongyang killed 50 South Koreans in 2010, South Korea’s military warned that any future North Korean attack could trigger strikes by South Korea that are three times as large.
The Koreas’ mine-strewn demilitarized zone is a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war. About 28,500 US soldiers are deployed in South Korea to deter potential aggression from North Korea.
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