N. Korea installing mines, reinforcing barbed wire inside DMZ: source

Defense 15:40 May 17, 2024

SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been installing mines and reinforcing barbed-wire fences in multiple locations inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas more actively than usual, a South Korean military source said Friday.

The military recently detected the North deploying hundreds of personnel to lay the mines and conduct other reinforcement activity inside the inter-Korean buffer zone in the eastern and central front lines, according to the source.

"The North Korean military is conducting various activities in four to five locations within the DMZ, such as installing mines and reinforcing barbed wires," the source said. "About 100 to 200 personnel have been mobilized by region, centering on the eastern and central front lines."

Such North Korean military activities are not unusual, but the South's military is closely monitoring the situation as the North has mobilized more troops this year than before.

The source said the North has also brought in heavy equipment inside the DMZ, a move that could be a violation of the armistice that ended the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said the military is closely monitoring the North Korean military and that it is closely working with the U.N. Command that oversees activities in the DMZ.

The official declined to comment further, citing possible risks to troop safety.

The move comes as North Korean troops have been spotted installing land mines on roads connecting the two Koreas since late last year, after Pyongyang announced last November it would restore all measures halted under a 2018 inter-Korean military accord designed to reduce tensions.