Kim Yo Jong says loudspeakers will go on standby; South Korean adviser responds

Kim Yo Jong, a director in North Korea's Workers' Party, said on 22 October that the North Korean military's 'new response means' along the entire border would go on mission standby and that loudspeakers aimed at South Korea would be on standby within days, according to KCNA as cited by Dong-A Ilbo and Korea Economic Daily. She warned that if South Korea made a 'mistake', even unintentionally, everything would be smashed, broken and collapsed, and said this was 'not a threat but a clear warning'. [ 1 , 2 ]

The statement was a response to Kim Byung-joo, a Democratic Party lawmaker who serves as special adviser on defence policy to the presidential office. On 21 October he criticised Kim Yo Jong on Facebook as 'brazen and thick-skinned' and demanded an apology for North Korean provocations. She replied that he should shut his mouth and said a 'minnow' was speaking irresponsibly without knowing what the phrase he used means. She also said she had dealt with the Moon Jae-in and Yoon Suk Yeol governments but had never seen people as foolish as those on board the present government's 'cart'. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Kim Yo Jong also said border fortification work in territory under North Korean sovereignty would continue, and that once the border is fortified, the risk of military clashes would fall markedly. She said the North was not provoking but reacting justifiably. On 21 October she had objected to South Korean warning shots over North Korean troops crossing the military demarcation line and said loudspeaker broadcasts would start along the whole border within October. According to Korea Economic Daily, she also said North Korean border troops would deal with 'armed ruffians' if South Korean warning shots harmed their territory or soldiers' safety. [ 1 , 2 ]

Kim Byung-joo spoke on CBS radio and, according to Chosun Ilbo, on MBC radio on 22 October. He said South Korean soldiers had been injured by North Korean mines and that the North's reaction looked like an attempt to shift responsibility for them. He said Kim Yo Jong and Pak Jong Chon, whom Chosun Ilbo describes as a defence ministry adviser, had come near the Joint Security Area in what he saw as a counter to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman's visit to the 5th Corps front on 20 October. [ 2 , 3 ]

He read the North's message as a will to keep turning the military demarcation line into a border and a signal that Seoul should not interfere. He said the new response means appeared to mean fire-readiness including artillery units, which he did not regard as a very special situation. He called a resumption of North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts the 'worst move' and said the South had many psychological-warfare means to answer with. [ 2 , 3 ]

Kim Byung-joo said the government was responding on two tracks: immediate military response to any provocation with full readiness, alongside efforts to manage tension and open the way to peace. He said the military should act firmly if the North provokes, but that the worst course must be avoided and that it might be time to turn more toward easing tension. [ 2 ]