{"id":4402,"date":"2020-06-17T14:54:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T06:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=4402"},"modified":"2020-06-17T14:54:19","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T06:54:19","slug":"north-korea-threatens-to-intensify-military-presence-around-dmz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=4402","title":{"rendered":"North Korea threatens to intensify military presence around DMZ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

June 17 – North Korea threatened Wednesday to bolster its military presence in and near the Demilitarized Zone, a day after blowing up its liaison office with the South, prompting sharp criticism from Seoul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a series of denunciations of South Korea, the nuclear-armed North rejected an offer from President Moon Jae-in to send envoys for talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong called it a “tactless and sinister proposal”, the official KCNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seoul retorted with an unusually stern condemnation, calling her remarks “senseless” and “very rude”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We warn we will no longer tolerate the North’s unreasonable acts and words,” said Blue House spokesman Yoon Do-han, calling Pyongyang’s disclosure of Moon’s offer of envoys “unprecedently senseless”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And its defense ministry said the North’s threats would violate several inter-Korean agreements. “The North will surely pay the price if such actions are taken,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The demolition of the liaison office in the Kaesong Industrial Zone, just across the border in Northern territory, came after Pyongyang vehemently condemned Seoul over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by defectors into the North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activities at the office had already been suspended for months due to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And relations between the neighbors have been at a standstill since the collapse of a summit last year between the nuclear-armed North and the US in Hanoi over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts say the North may now be seeking to manufacture a crisis to increase pressure on the South to extract concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, a spokesman for the North’s military said it would deploy regiment-level units to the Mount Kumgang tourist area and the Kaesong complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two zones are sites of long-shuttered joint inter-Korean projects: Southern tourists visited the scenic Mount Kumgang until a North Korean soldier in 2008 shot dead a woman who strayed off the path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Kaesong complex — where the liaison office stood until Tuesday — South Korean companies employed North Korean workers, paying Pyongyang for their labor in a lucrative arrangement for the authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North’s military spokesman also said guard posts that had been withdrawn from the Demilitarized Zone under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement would be reestablished to “strengthen the guard over the front line”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military exercises in the border area would resume, he added, and it would prepare to send leaflets to the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since early June, North Korea has issued a series of vitriolic condemnations of the South over the leaflets, which defectors regularly send, usually attached to balloons or floated in bottles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flyers criticize North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for human rights abuses and his nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moon, who has long backed engagement with the nuclear-armed North, has been called unrealistic by his critics for his dovish approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two Koreas remain technically at war after hostilities in the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953 but not a peace treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–AFP<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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