North Korean self-propelled guns spotted as Pyongyang issues warning to South

A day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an unexpected visit to China and reaffirmed the two countries’ traditional “blood alliance”, Pyongyang issued a stern military warning to South Korea, saying it would exercise its right to self-defence if its territory was violated by even “one millimetre”.

Meanwhile, South Korean media captured rare footage of several North Korean self-propelled guns along the border between the two Koreas.

Analysts say North Korea is pursuing a two-track diplomatic and military strategy by strengthening its strategic ties with China while continuing to display its military deterrent against the South, further raising tensions along the border.

The Korean Central News Agency reported on Monday (26 October) that Kim Song, North Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations, had written to the president of the UN Security Council on 25 October. He stressed that the North’s fortification work along its southern border was a legitimate measure of self-defence to safeguard its territory.

Responding to warning shots and broadcasts by the South Korean military directed at North Korean troops who crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), Kim Song warned that North Korea would exercise its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter if the South took action that endangered the lives of North Korean personnel.

Kim Song again denied North Korean responsibility for a landmine explosion on 21 September in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) on South Korea’s western front. He accused Seoul of trying to portray the North’s border fortification work as “military aggression” to shift responsibility for the deteriorating situation on the peninsula.

Meanwhile, footage taken by Yonhap News Agency and SBS television on 25 October from the Aegibong observatory in Gimpo, Gyeonggi province, showed at least three suspected 122mm self-propelled guns in the open on the coast of Kaepung county in North Korea’s Hwanghae province, about 1.5km away across the Han River. Some North Korean soldiers sat on the vehicles talking, while the gun barrels occasionally moved up and down. One of the guns also bore an anti-US propaganda slogan.

North Korea’s 122mm self-propelled guns have a range of about 15 to 24km and are a mainstay of its frontline artillery units.

Yang Uk, a research fellow at South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the North Korean military appeared to be deliberately displaying its firepower rather than strengthening it. If it were preparing for actual combat, the military would normally seek to conceal its artillery positions rather than expose them.

Shin Jong Woo, secretary-general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, also said the North Korean military could be using the deployment to demonstrate its frontline strike capabilities, and did not rule out further military reinforcements.

The development echoes a warning on 22 October by Kim Yo Jong, director of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s General Affairs Department. She had threatened to deploy new countermeasures along the southern border and place the relevant military measures on standby.

The South Korean military is understood to have detected more than 900 explosions coming from the North in frontline areas of Ganghwa county, Incheon, so far this year. Some may be linked to border fortification work.

Anxiety among border residents continues to grow as North Korea signals that it will resume loudspeaker broadcasts directed at the South. Residents of Paju, Gyeonggi province, held a press conference on 26 October to oppose the resumption of broadcasts by both sides and military confrontation.

Notably, South Korea’s Ministry of Defence had proposed talks between the two Koreas’ military authorities on 23 October to prevent accidental clashes along the border. North Korea has yet to respond, instead displaying its frontline firepower and lodging a protest with the UN Security Council.

Analysts say the two Koreas remain at odds over the border landmine incident, leaving little prospect of dialogue resuming in the near term. However, amid attention on the possibility of renewed talks between North Korea and the US, neither side wishes for border friction to escalate into direct military confrontation.