SEOUL, South Korea (City Telegraph) — South Korea has summoned the Russian ambassador to lodge a protest against a recent defense pact with North Korea. This comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, promising mutual defense during a state visit to Pyongyang.
The South Korean government has condemned the agreement, viewing it as a threat to national security. In response, it is considering providing arms to Ukraine to assist in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a vague threat of retaliation on Friday. This statement came after South Korean activists sent balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border, highlighting the increasing tensions on the peninsula.
The statement came two days after Moscow and Pyongyang agreed on a mutual defense assistance pact and a day after Seoul announced it would consider supplying arms to Ukraine to counter Russia’s invasion.
In a statement carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong, one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, called the activists “defector scum” and issued what appeared to be a threat of retaliation.
“When you do something you were clearly warned not to do, it’s only natural that you will find yourself dealing with something you didn’t have to,” she said, without specifying what the North would do.
Following previous leafletting campaigns by South Korean activists, North Korea retaliated by launching over 1,000 balloons that dropped tons of trash in South Korea, causing damage to roof tiles, windows, and other property. Kim Yo Jong had hinted that using balloons might become North Korea’s standard response to such activities, stating that the North would counter by “scattering dozens of times more rubbish than is being scattered on us.”
In response, South Korea resumed anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts with military loudspeakers installed at the border for the first time in years, to which Kim Yo Jong, in another state media statement, warned that Seoul was “creating a prelude to a very dangerous situation.”
Tensions between North and South Korea are escalating as Kim Jong Un advances his nuclear weapons and missile programs, seeking to bolster his regional influence through an alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin against the U.S.-led West.
South Korea, supported by a well-equipped military and backed by the United States, is considering increasing its support for Ukraine in response. While Seoul has provided humanitarian aid and joined U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow, it has refrained from directly supplying arms, adhering to a longstanding policy of not arming countries involved in active conflicts.
During a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Thursday, Putin cautioned that supplying weapons to Ukraine would be“a very big mistake.” said South Korea “shouldn’t worry” about the agreement if it isn’t planning aggression against Pyongyang.
Also read: Mutual Aid Agreement: Russia and North Korea Promise Military Support
North Korea strongly opposes criticism of Kim’s authoritarian regime and any attempts to expose its population to foreign media or information.
In 2015, South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in 11 years. In response, North Korea fired artillery rounds across the border, leading South Korea to return fire, according to South Korean officials. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
South Korea’s military has observed signs indicating that North Korea may be installing its speakers at the border, although they are not yet operational.
In the most recent border incident, several North Korean soldiers engaged in unspecified construction work briefly crossed the military demarcation line separating the two countries at around 11 a.m. on Thursday.
In response, the South Korean military issued a warning and fired warning shots, prompting the North Korean soldiers to retreat. The South Korean joint chiefs did not immediately provide further details, including the reason for the delayed release of this information.
South Korea’s military believes that recent border intrusions were not intentional, citing the fact that North Korean soldiers did not return fire and retreated after warning shots were fired.
The South’s military has noticed a significant deployment of North Korean soldiers in frontline areas. They appear to be constructing suspected anti-tank barriers, reinforcing roads, and planting mines, presumably to fortify their side of the border. Seoul believes these efforts are likely intended to prevent North Korean civilians and soldiers from defecting to the South.
