N. Korea sends small groups of troops to GPs and stakeout boxes

North Korea has kept sending a small number of troops to guard posts (GP) and small stakeout boxes, which have long remained unused, in the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Three to four North Korean soldiers were seen clearing bushes and executing road maintenance using shovels, pickaxes and sickles around sentry posts, according to the South Korean military on Sunday.

The South Korean military leadership has been keeping close tabs on the North as its recent moves may signal the four major military actions that the North’s General Staff Department (GSD) threatened to take. Sending soldiers to vacant sentry posts, in particular, is seen as a follow-up of the “top-class combat mode” order that the GSD gave to front-line troops. The South Korean military is closely watching two coastal artillery pieces in Kaemuri, Hwanghae Province, near northwest islands (NWI), which have remained open since Friday. In accordance with the two Koreas’ Comprehensive Military Agreement, which was signed on Sept. 19 2018, they must keep shut muzzles of coastal artillery pieces in the coastal buffer zone. However, the North has recently been seen to open and shut some of artillery weapons along the coastal lines. The South keep a closer look at other coastal regions including Jangjaedo.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the South Korean military ran a check of Spike missiles deployed in marine bases on Baengnyeongdo and Yeonpyeongdo. Purchased from Israel in 2013, the Spike Missile System was deployed to South Korea. Nicknamed a killer of artillery shells, the air-to-surface missile system is able to precisely target artillery weapons hidden deep in the mines. “Most of the North’s artillery weapons deployed around northwest islands including Kaemuri are within the strike range of Spike missiles,” said a South Korean military source.


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com · Ji-Hoon Lee easyhoon@donga.com