Category: DMZ

This guy definitely went off the deep end.  If he wanted to defect it would have been easier for him to fly to China and walk into North Korea that way:

On November 15, a North Korean defector known as Mr. A was caught while trying to re-enter North Korea in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province. Following the incident, the relevant government departments including the police and the Ministry of Unification have made statements urging more proactive approaches toward helping defectors experiencing difficulties in settling down.

According to the police and the military, Mr. A was caught on CCTV near a fence under the jurisdiction of the 25th Division of Yeoncheon Province in the afternoon of November 15, and was arrested by a dispatched force. The military handed Mr. A over to the police as he is a civilian.

Mr. A is known to have defected from North Korea in 2001 and settled in South Korea. He is married to a female North Korean defector and had been working as an assistant driver of a forklift while living in Ulsan. During the police interrogation, he is reported to have said that as he was suffering from economic hardship and his marital relations had broken down, he wished to re-enter North Korea under the belief that life across the border would be better for him.’  [NK Daily]

Via a reader tip comes this news that the North Koreans decided to do their part and begin a provocation cycle during the UFG16 military exercise by planting landmines at the Panmunjom peace village:

The American-led U.N. Command in South Korea on Tuesday accused North Korea of planting land mines near a truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.

Much of the border, one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints, is strewn with land mines and laced with barbed wire. But South Korean media said no land mines had been planted in the area of the truce village of Panmunjom until North Korea placed an unspecified number there last week.

The U.N. Command said in a statement that it “strongly condemns” any North Korean action that jeopardizes the safety of personnel in the DMZ.

It said it wouldn’t speculate on why North Korea placed the mines there. Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified South Korean government official, said the North apparently planted the mines to prevent front-line North Korean soldiers from defecting to South Korea via Panmunjom.  [Seattle Times]

You can read more at the link, but it would be surprising to see a North Korean soldier defect at Panmunjom because of how specially selected they are for that mission.  Anyway according to the Joong Ang Ilbo the mines were planted near the Bridge of No Return:

Image of the Bridge of No Return via the DMZ webpage.

“The South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities detected last week that the North Korean soldiers were planting multiple mines north of the Bridge of No Return near Panmunjom,” the source said. “It is the first time that they witnessed the North’s land mine placement in that area since the Armistice Agreement was signed in July 1953.”

The Bridge of No Return is located inside the truce village, west of the Joint Security Area. The bridge crosses the military demarcation line between the two Koreas, and it was used for prisoner exchanges at the end of the Korean War. The name came from the final ultimatum given to the prisoners of war before their repatriation, because they would never be allowed to return once they cross the bridge to return to their homeland.

“Under the regulations governing the truce, planting land mines is forbidden in the areas near the Panmunjom,” said a South Korean government official. “The guards are banned from carrying heavy weapons. The United Nations Command strongly protested to the North about the move.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but keep in mind that the Bridge of No Return was the location of the 1976 DMZ Axe Murder Incident.  August 18th was the 40 year anniversary of this incident which leads me to believe the planting of the landmines was a North Korean jab at the US in regards to the anniversary of this incident.

Here is just another example of the fantasy land narrative in North Korea:

On Thursday, the anniversary of the incident, the Korean People’s Army Panmunjom Mission spokesman said that North Korea will “never forget the Panmunjom incident, which took place intentionally under U.S. imperialists looking for an excuse to start a war of invasion while permanently occupying the South.”

North Korea stated the U.S. version of the incident was a “cunning stratagem” to find a way out of its responsibility for the event, adding that the incident is a “serious lesson in history.”

“Only death lies for aggressors and provokers,” North Korea said in the statement issued on KCNA.

According to Pyongyang, the incident involved U.S. forces “pushing forward” South Korean “puppet guards” who “screamed in the direction of [North Korean] soldiers” then assumed “combat-ready positions.”

The South Korea and U.S. forces then brought in “heavy weaponry” and installed a “large surveillance tower.” Their “perilous military provocations tell all,” North Korea stated.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link as well as more about the DMZ Axe Murder Incident at the below link:

• DMZ Flashpoints: The 1976 DMZ Axe Murder Incident

This is actually a pretty good idea which also makes me wonder if it can also help deter North Korean submarine activity as well in the area?:

North Korea on Monday condemned the artificial reef structures being placed in the West Sea by South Korea to control Chinese illegal fishing activities, calling it part of Seoul’s military provocations against Pyongyang’s maritime demarcation line.

In March, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) said it will set up a total of eight artificial reef structures in the eastern waters off Baengnyeongdo, Daecheongdo and Socheongdo, all located south of the northern limit line (NLL), to prevent Chinese fishing vessels from intruding into the South Korean waters.

Drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the NLL is the de facto sea border between the two Koreas, although the North has not recognized it as such.

According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the West Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said South Korea’s new artificial structures can only be seen a encroachments on its waters.

“The fish-breeding reef, structure weighing dozens of tons, is being set up in the sensitive waters which witnessed three skirmishes in the past, a fact clearly showing the provocative nature,” KCNA said.

Such provocative acts have revealed Seoul’s “sinister intention” to spark a military conflict in the world’s most dangerous waters, the North’s state-run media outlet claimed.  [Yonhap]

A group of foreigners who participated in a South Korea-ASEAN tourism workshop in Seoul visits the “Eco-Peace Park” near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas in Cherwon, located some 88 kilometers north of Seoul, on June 12, 2016. ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The Seoul-based ASEAN-Korea Center provided this photo. (Yonhap)

This will definitely be a unique ultra-marathon for those who decide to run it:

A 100-kilometer (62 mile) long ultra-marathon near the demilitarized zone, which divides the South and North, will be hosted over the course of three days in early September, announced the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Tuesday.

The marathon will take place in the far northern part of Gyeonggi – Gimpo, Paju and Yeonchon District – from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4.

The sports event was organized to publicize the history, culture and ecological diversity of the demilitarized zone as well as deliver a message about peace and the importance of life to race participants.

Over 80 percent of the marathon’s trails are unpaved roads, and runners will have to run through mountainous environs and meadows. As many as 1,700 runners will participate in the race, and the course will be divided into two parts – one for foreign and domestic professional runners and another for amateur runners.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Over at The DMZ War there is a very interesting document posted that is a transcript of a 1976 phone conversation between Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft. Kissinger and Scowcroft talk about a lot of interesting things in regards to the US response to the killing of two US Army officers during the DMZ Axe Murder Incident. For example Kissinger believed that the North Korean barracks inside of the Joint Security Area (JSA) should have been bombed.  Something else I did not know was that the two officers killed in the attack had their bodies shipped home in coffins made from the wood of the tree that was chopped down:

You can read the rest of the transcript at this link.

The US soldiers stationed at the Joint Security Area on the DMZ are specifically trained to be very professional when interacting with the North Koreans that is why I have a hard time believing the North Koreans.  Considering all the video cameras at the JSA you would think the North Koreans would have released video footage of their claimed infractions:

The American-led U.N. command on Saturday dismissed as unsubstantiated accusations from North Korea that U.S. troops at a border village tried to provoke its frontline troops with “disgusting acts.”

 

A North Korean military statement Friday warned U.S. soldiers to stop what it called “hooliganism” at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom or they’ll meet a “dog’s death any time and any place.”

 

It said U.S. troops pointed their fingers at North Korean soldiers and made strange noises and unspecified “disgusting” facial expressions. It also said that American troops encouraged South Korean soldiers to aim their guns at the North.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

Fortunately this accidental discharge did not turn into a larger incident with North Korea:

A South Korean machine gun was recently accidentally discharged toward North Korea, the military in Seoul said Tuesday, though it remained unclear where the shots had landed.

A South Korean military official said two shots from a K-6 heavy machine gun were accidentally fired from a guard post (GP) inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the eastern front on Sunday. The official said the misfire happened during maintenance, but no injuries were reported.

On three occasions, South Korea broadcast messages to North Korea that the shots had been accidentally fired.

“The North Korean military didn’t respond to our messages and didn’t show any particular movement,” the South Korean official added. “We don’t believe the shots reached their GP.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The UK’s Guardian has an article published that describes what life is like for ROK Army soldiers tasked with patrolling the DMZ:

Because the border is supposed to be a “demilitarised zone”, it takes some creative accounting to allow the soldiers to be posted there.

“All of the rangers are given a chest patch that says ‘DMZ police’ and an armband that says ‘military police,’” Shin said. “As as long as we wear the armband before entering the DMZ, no matter how armed we are, we are nothing but the ‘armed police’ not the armed ‘military’ force.”

It’s a posting that comes with many hazards, not just North Korean ones. Instead of four seasons there are just three at the DMZ: “the steaming summer, cold winter and the ice age when everything freezes,” he said.

Shin and his fellow soldiers had to endure temperatures that dropped below -19C (-2.2F), with endless, biting winds blowing in from the North.

“The wind was so strong it could literally blow you around,” said Shin. “Most general outposts are on the top of the mountain, directly facing the wind.”  [The Guardian]

You can read more at the link.