South Korea warns of ‘firm’ response to further provocations from North

SEOUL – South Korea’s military warned on Oct 20 of a “firm” response to any further provocations by North Korea, adding it was “unacceptable” for Pyongyang to blame Seoul for escalating tensions.North Korea has rejected claims it was behind the explosion that injured three soldiers in September inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), the heavily mined buffer area that has divided the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice.A joint Seoul-United Nations Command investigation concluded the blast was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South Korean side of the border, but Pyongyang rejected Seoul’s demand for an official apology.North Korea said on Oct 19 that “a grave situation is prevailing” along its border with the South and that it was considering deploying additional unspecified “tactical strike means” to the area.Pyongyang also claimed Seoul carried out “provocative” loudspeaker broadcasts 998 times and fired 91 warning shots between Oct 1 and 17.On Oct 20, Seoul called the claims “unacceptable” and accused Pyongyang of “baselessly shifting the blame for escalating military tensions onto our own military”.“It is unacceptable that North Korea yesterday characterized our legitimate operational measures as a ‘provocation,’“ said Jin Yong-sung, chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to a statement.Jin ordered the military to “respond with firm resolve” should North Korea carry out further provocations using the South Korean military’s legitimate actions as a pretext, the statement added.Separately, South Korea’s defence ministry said its broadcasts and warning shots were “legitimate defensive measures to prevent North Korean troops from crossing the MDL and to drive back troops that have crossed it”.The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) is the exact border within the DMZ that separates the two countries.A string of cross-border incidents have weighed on North-South ties in recent years.In 2024, North Korea sent thousands of trash-carrying balloons south, calling them retaliation for anti-Pyongyang balloons launched by South Korean activists.The South later resumed border loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in six years, including K-pop and international news, while the North began transmitting strange, eerie sounds across the frontier, unsettling South Korean residents.Besides the border tensions, North Korea has also tested a slew of weapons recently, including a “new-type” precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile, both of which were said to employ artificial intelligence technology. AFP