Maj. Gen. Urs Gerber, who heads the Swiss delegation of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, places a flower in front of the monument to the 1976 ax murders of two U.S. Army officers by North Korean soldiers, during a memorial at the Joint Security Area in the truce village of Panmunjom on Aug. 18, 2015, to pay homage to the victims. (Yonhap)
As it turns out the North Koreans did not fire artillery at the loudspeaker on the ROK side of the DMZ and instead used an anti-aircraft weapon:
The two Koreas traded fire on Thursday after the North launched artillery shells apparently targeting propaganda loudspeakers installed across the border, threatening additional military action against the broadcasts and further heightening tension on the peninsula.
The North fired a 14.5-milimeter anti-aircraft gun once at around 3:53 p.m. at a town in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province, and then a 76.2-mm direct fire weapon “several times” at 4:15 p.m. within the Demilitarized Zone, military officials here said. Shortly after detection, the Army discharged a 155-milimeter self-propelled gun at 5:04 p.m.
The Army reported no damage. Casualties in the North were not immediately known.
Coincidentally with the exchange of fire, Pyongyang sent two separate letters to the South, calling for a withdrawal of the loudspeakers and threatening military action.
In the letter sent from the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army to South Korea’s Defense Ministry through a border telephone channel at around 4:50 p.m., Pyongyang warned that it would initiate “military action” unless Seoul stops the propaganda broadcasts within 48 hours from 5 p.m.
In a separate letter by Kim Yang-gon, director of the United Front Department in charge of cross-border affairs, to National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin, Pyongyang said the broadcasts constitute a “declaration of war” but it is willing to resolve the current situation and “open a way out for the improvement of the relationship.”
Seoul said it has no plan to dismantle the speakers at this point. (………….)
The North’s anti-aircraft gun ammunition appeared to have hit an uninhabited hill located several kilometers away from a loudspeaker set, an official at Seoul’s Defense Ministry said. Yet the North did not appear to have aimed at the equipment, he noted, without elaborating.
“We detected signs that the North Korean military staged two rounds of firearm provocation in the southern part of the Military Demarcation Line, and fired dozens of rounds of a 155-millimeter self-propelled gun as warning shots,” Joint Chief of Staff spokesman Col. Jeon Ha-kyu said at a news briefing. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link.
judging by the quick reaction by the ROK forces they were likely ready for what was a pretty predictable action by the North Koreans to try and destroy one of the propaganda loudspeakers:
South Korea fired tens of artillery rounds towards North Korea on Thursday after the North fired a projectile towards a South Korean loudspeaker that had been blaring anti-Pyongyang broadcasts, the defense ministry in Seoul said.
North Korea did not immediately respond to the South’s shots, it said, as tensions rose on the peninsula.
South Korea said its detection equipment had spotted the trajectory of a suspected North Korean projectile launched at around 3:52 pm (0252 EDT), which did not appear to have damaged the loudspeaker or caused any injuries.
“Our military has stepped up monitoring and is closely watching North Korean military movements,” South Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement.
South Korea’s military raised its alert status to the highest level.
There was no mention of the firing in North Korean state media, which does not typically make immediate comment on events.
The suspected North Korean projectile landed in an area about 60 km (35 miles) north of Seoul in the western part of the border zone, the defense ministry said. South Korean residents in the area were ordered to evacuate, according to the South’s Yonhap news agency.
Yonhap reported that the projectile appeared to have landed in a mountainous area near a South Korean military base in the town of Yeoncheon. [Reuters]
You can read more at the link, but this will not be the last of the tit-for-tat along the DMZ as the North Koreans have threatened more military action if the propaganda speakers are not taken down in 48 hours. In preparation for more provocations civilians along the western DMZ are being evacuated.
Soldiers of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission give a salute during a memorial at the Joint Security Area in the truce village of Panmunjom on Aug. 18, 2015, to pay homage to the two U.S. military officers, who were axed to death by North Korean soldiers at the village in 1976. (Yonhap)
Via the Stars and Stripes comes this YouTube video which shows when the two ROK Army soldiers were hit by the planted North Korean landmine:
Here is what experts in the article had to say about detecting such infiltrations:
A South Korean military official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that while South Korean troops aggressively monitor the border with advanced surveillance equipment and their naked eyes, their ability to monitor some portions of the DMZ is limited.
North and South Korean troops man outposts along the Military Demarcation Line, often in forested areas.
“It’s very difficult to keep watch there for 24 hours a day, especially if it’s rainy or foggy,” said Kim Seongmin, a defector and former North Korean military officer who now heads Free North Korea Radio. “If North Korean troops want to violate the armistice agreement, they can do it there,” he said.
An Chanil, who was stationed at the DMZ as a platoon sergeant in the North Korean army, agreed.
“Nobody can see everywhere,” said An, who defected in 1979 and is now president of the World Institute for Korea Studies, a Seoul-based think tank.
He said ordinary North Korean soldiers would have difficulty crossing the demarcation line, though specially trained reconnaissance soldiers could do so with ease.
“The DMZ is their home ground,” he said. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but this is why any North Korean soldiers caught violating the armistice should be shot on site. In the past warning shots were fired when they were caught crossing the DMZ. It is now time to start attriting their operatives who are specially trained for these missions. That will be a deterrent to continuing to launch such attacks.
The ROK probably should have never stopped clearing shrubbery around the DMZ in the first place considering North Korea’s long history of border incursions and provocations:
Han’s remarks came as the South’s military is preparing to take preliminary steps to pave the way for offensive operations within the 250-kilometer stretch of the four-kilometer-wide buffer zone.
It is considering forest burning in some areas, an operational practice the South decided to stop in 2001 following inter-Korean working-level military talks.
An official explained that burning shrubs will help the military secure a view of North Korea’s guard posts and reconnaissance activities ahead of launching offensive operations within the area. The official said if it is conducted, the burning operation would be carried out in the fall to avoid southerly wind.
Amid such considerations, a South Korea-U.S. joint artillery live fire drill began on Wednesday.
Running through the end of this month, the drill will see the participation of cutting-edge weapons, including South Korea’s K-2 tanks and FA-50 fighter jets as well as the U.S.’ Paladin self-propelled howitzers, Apache helicopters and A-10 attack aircraft. [KBS World Radio]
You can read more at the link.
U.S. and ROK forces to hold unscheduled live-fire drills near North Korean border after DMZ ambush HT @ISNJH @140DPRK http://t.co/1ZJ4FYz558
— Andrew NK (@northkoreafront) August 12, 2015
According to the below article there is not much that the South Koreans can do in regards to the recent mine attack that wounded two South Korean troops. I disagree, just for starters the ROK government should have Park Sang-hak and his team on speed dial to go launch some of their propaganda balloons with DVDs of “The Interview” on them. Announcing government funding for defector radio stations is another option. The biggest trump card the ROK government has is to end the near-slave labor operation going on at Kaesong that is a major Kim regime cash cow:
South Korea announced a series of measures this week aimed at deterring another North Korean land mine attack, from broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages across the Demilitarized Zone to changing patrol times for its soldiers.
But in a climate where military officials fear that even the smallest exchange of fire could escalate into a full-blown conflict, there might be little Seoul will do to punish the North or discourage further provocations, some experts say.
Two South Korean soldiers were maimed Aug. 4 after triggering several recently planted land mines during a routine morning patrol at the DMZ, near Paju. The blasts happened about 1,440 feet south of the Military Demarcation Line, which marks the actual border between the two Koreas. One of the soldiers lost his legs, and the other lost a foot.
The land mine attack, while tragic, is a relatively minor incident in the larger picture of inter-Korean relations, and the appropriate response for Seoul is unclear, said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict.
“It’s this real kind of gray area that doesn’t rise to the level of triggering some kind of military counter attack,” he said.
South Korean forces will vary patrol times so they cannot be tracked by North Korea, and will increase the number of search and reconnaissance missions along the DMZ. Troops will also conduct a sweep for additional land mines this month, and will toughen engagement rules for North Korean troops who cross into the South’s territory, according to South Korean media reports Tuesday. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link.
This photo, released on Aug. 11, 2015, by the Defense Ministry, shows loudspeakers that South Korea has installed at a unidentified site on the western front-line bordering North Korea to resume its anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasting. The resumption of the loudspeaker campaign is in retaliation of a the North’s bloody mine detonation on South Korean soldiers on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone in Paju, north of Seoul, on Aug. 4. (Yonhap)
North Korea has a long history of terrorism with the 1968 Blue House Raid when 31 North Korean operatives tried to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung-hee as the most audacious example. Once the commandos were detected the ensuing gunfights killed dozens of civilians and soldiers. A year later on December 12, 1969 the North Koreans would conduct a more conventional terrorist act by hijacking a civilian airliner flying from Gangneung to Gimpo carrying 46 passengers and 4 crew members. Here is an article about the hijacking in the December 13, 1969 edition of the Stars & Stripes:
The plane was hijacked by two North Korean agents posing as South Korean civilians that boarded the YS-11 aircraft in Kangneung and proceeded to hijack it shortly after takeoff. The hijackers forced the pilots to fly the plane across the DMZ to Wonsan, North Korea.
Two days after the hijacking the North Koreans tried to blame it on the two pilots by claiming they wanted to defect. Here is an article from the December 14, 1969 Stars & Stripes that discusses this claim:
The North Koreans even put the two pilots, Yu Byong-ha and Choe Sok-man on radio where they confirmed this claim. However, these claims were dismissed by the ROK authorities because the two pilots were both decorated ROK Air Force veterans who the investigation determined had no reason to defect. In fact the ROK authorities investigated the backgrounds of all 46 passengers on board the plane and cleared everyone except for two men, Han Chang-gi and Paek In-yong. The ROK authorities could not find any background information on these two men leading them to believe they were the hijackers. The pilots’ so called confession on the radio was likely due to the threats made against them by the North Koreans. This hijacking ended up causing a huge uproar within South Korean society because this provocation was directed solely at civilians unlike past provocations that were primarily directed at military and government targets:
What is really amazing about this hijacking is that there was supposed to be an American on the flight. It must have been Mr. Duane R. Kinas’ lucky day because for some reason he missed the flight and avoided being held hostage in North Korea. Who knows how different that man’s life would have been today if he boarded that plane? For most of the the passengers and crew that did get on the plane that day they were eventually released by the North Koreans. Two months later on February 14th, 1970 the North Koreans released 39 of the passengers through the peace village at Panmunjom. Here is an article from the February 16, 1970 Stars & Stripes about the release:
Considering how North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung was trying to create an insurgency within South Korea in concert with his series of military provocations, this hijacking seems like a miscalculation. Maybe he realized this miscalculation and that is why he returned most of the hostages. The North Koreans however continued to hold on to 6 passengers and the 4 crew members. Considering the radio confession that the pilots made I can understand why the North Koreans would not want them to return, but the holding on to the other passengers and crew is still a mystery to this day. The North Koreans also never returned the YS-11 aircraft which makes me wonder what did they do with it?
Today this hijacking is largely forgotten except by the family members of those still held hostage in North Korea who have tried for decades to get their loved ones released with little help from the ROK government. The only thing known about the hostages is that the two flight attendants are alive and well in North Korea:
On Dec. 12, 1969, a Korean Air Lines YS-11 aircraft flying from Gangneung, Gangwon, to Gimpo International Airport was hijacked by a North Korean spy at 12:36 p.m. and forced to fly to Pyongyang. The flight was carrying 46 South Korean passengers and four crew members, including Hwang Won, a 32-year-old producer for Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, who was on a business trip.
Hwang left behind his wife, a three-month-old daughter and a two-year-old son. They haven’t seen or heard from him since.
After 42 years, most Koreans have forgotten the hijacking and many young people have never heard about it at all. But Hwang’s son, Hwang In-cheol, 44, has never given up his search for the father he can’t even remember.
And he’s bitter about the scant assistance he’s received through the decades.
“For me, the biggest hardship in searching for my father is people’s indifference and the government’s negligence,” Hwang said. “The South Korean government has done nothing for me, except the formality of asking for help from the International Red Cross.”
Two days after the hijacking, North Korea broadcast a press conference through state-run radio station Pyongyang Broadcasting System. At the conference, the plane’s captain, Yu Byeong-ha, and its first officer, Choe Seok-man, said they had defected to the communist country, shocking South Korea.
But those claims were doubted, and after condemnation from the international community, North Korea said on Feb. 3, 1970, that it would repatriate all of the passengers and crew members and would return the aircraft to the South.
It reneged on parts of that promise. The aircraft was never returned. And on Feb. 14, 39 passengers were sent back to the South through Panmunjom, a village on the inter-Korean border. Eleven people – the captain, first officer, two female flight attendants and seven passengers – were held in North Korea.
“The 39 people who returned told the truth to the public at a press conference on Feb. 15 – it was a hijacking,” Hwang said. “A North Korean agent, Cho Chang-hee, disguised himself as a South Korean passenger and forced the captain to fly to the North after the plane took off.”
According to media reports at the time, the 39 released passengers said they were indoctrinated with North Korean ideology at a series of lectures. They reported that Hwang’s father got into a quarrel with a North Korean official, telling him, “All of the things you are saying are wrong.”
After that, Hwang’s father was dragged outside the classroom and separated from the other South Koreans for the next two weeks.
Another apparent transgression came, according to the passengers who returned, when the group was drinking with North Korean officials and Hwang’s father sang a song, “I want to go back to my hometown.”
“The people who were allowed to return to South Korea said they never saw him again after he sang that song,” Hwang said.
Since her husband disappeared, Hwang’s mother has suffered from poverty and mental illness. Afraid for her son’s safety, she rarely allowed him to enjoy outdoor activities or have normal social interactions.
For the past decade, Hwang has waged a one-man struggle to find his father. (His younger sister lives in Britain.)
He staged a solo rally in front of the National Assembly, sent a letter to North Korea through the Ministry of Unification and issued numerous statements.
The families of the missing passengers and crew formed a lobbying committee in the early days. “The North refused any demand from the committee, saying it was none of their business,” Hwang said.
“The committee was disbanded in 1979 when the group’s president died. Since then, I am the only one who fighting for the truth. And with no solutions, this tragedy has started to disappear from people’s memories.”
One breakthrough came on June 26, 2001, when a reunion for families separated by the Korean War was held in Pyongyang.
Seong Gyeong-hui, a flight attendant on the hijacked plane, met her mother and said she was married to a North Korean man and had a son and a daughter.
She said that the other flight attendant, Jeong Gyeong-suk, was fine, living in her neighborhood.
Except for those two, there has been no word of the others held in North Korea.
“In 2006, North Korea sent me a letter through the Red Cross that said they couldn’t confirm whether my father was alive or not,” Hwang said.
A special law enacted in 2007 says it is the South Korean government’s “duty” to make efforts to confirm the fate of abductees in North Korea and make efforts to bring them home.
Hwang said he once talked to a vice minister of unification at a meeting with families of abductees in North Korea in November 2010.
“The vice minister told me, ‘Currently, [improving] inter-Korean relations is the top priority for the ministry and it is difficult to talk about the matter at this moment.’”
“I know working-level officials in the ministry are doing their best with this issue,” Hwang said.
“However, I was really disappointed with the ministry at the time and thought that humanitarian issues should be separated from the issue of inter-Korean relations. I constantly asked the government for help, but they didn’t listen to me.”
Now Hwang is pinning his hopes on help from the international community. In June 2010, he registered his father as an abductee with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
He was the first family member to do so and two other families followed his lead in the next few months.
Last month, the council officially requested that the North confirm whether the 11 abductees are still alive.
According to the UN’s rule, North Korea should reply to the demand within six months. If it refuses, North Korea will be listed by the UN as a country where forced disappearance happens.
“Hijacking is definitely an international crime, which has no statute of limitations,” Hwang said. “Unlike other abductions, North Korea can’t deny this case, because there is so much clear evidence.”
Hwang said that the first thing he wants to know about his father is whether he’s alive.
“If my father died, I want the North to send his remains and tell me everything that happened to him for the past 42 years, according to the international standard,” he said. “If he’s alive, I want to see him regularly, not like reunions in the past, which were one-shot affairs.
“If I could meet him,” Hwang said, “I want to wash his body from head to foot. That’s my dream.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
This is clearly an act of terrorism and yet according to the US State Department North Korea is not a state sponsor of terrorism . They were removed from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list in 2008 for denuclearization promises which they have never kept. The State Department has refused to add them back to the list ever since despite them never answering for terrorist incidents against South Korea to include this hijacking where ROK citizens are still held hostage in North Korea. The 1969 YS-11 hijacking is just one of many examples of ROK citizens being held hostage by the North Koreans which past deals with the Kim regime have never forced them to come clean on. I have always believed that any future deals struck with North Korea should include them coming clean on the fate of these ROK citizens; unfortunately it seems politicians would rather have these hostages remain in the dustbins of history and forgotten. They are not forgotten here on the ROK Drop.
Click the below link for more DMZ Flashpoints articles:
