Kim Yo-jong hardens stance on North's southern border

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said that the country’s drive to fortify its southern border can never be reversed after inspecting construction sites along the frontier.

Kim Yo-jong and Pak Jong-chon, an adviser to the North’s ministry of national defense, inspected key sites involved in the fortification work on Tuesday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday. Ri Il-hwan, a secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party, was also present.

Kim Yo-jong stressed that Pyongyang’s military leadership should make clear to Seoul that its new firepower units had already taken their firing positions. She also ruled out any compromise over the border, saying that North Korea would not yield in exercising what it considers its territorial sovereignty.

She then emphasized that Kim Jong-un had issued “an order to fortify the border with an enemy state to be eternally impregnable,” according to the KCNA.

The KCNA said that Pak and other officials inspected the barriers being built to make the border permanent and encouraged troops working to reinforce the frontier despite what the agency described as interference and threats from the South.

He also laid out the North’s position on what he described as serious provocations aimed at interfering with the country’s exercise of sovereignty within its own territory.

Seoul was trying to use Pyongyang’s border barrier construction as a pretext for provocation, he argued. He also dismissed claims that North Korean troops had crossed the border as “premeditated and absurd” attempts to shift responsibility for rising tensions onto the North.

“Our army knows where our borderline is better than others do, and we are doing what we should in our territory,” he said.

Pak then called for the border to be turned into a strong fortress and warned that any move by South Korea — beyond warning broadcasts and warning shots — that directly threatened North Korean troops should be met with an immediate counterattack.

He also called for what he described as highly skilled, professional and overwhelming military action in response to such moves. Protecting North Korean troops should come first, he added, with firepower strong enough to deter the South.

BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]