North Korea deployed a howitzer on the border with South Korea amid escalating tensions
Kyiv • UNN
Pyongyang accused Seoul of fabricating the landmine incident and threatened self-defense. A howitzer and North Korean troops were spotted near the border.
Tensions between North and South Korea escalated this week after Pyongyang sent a letter to the UN Security Council reiterating its accusations that Seoul fabricated the September landmine incident, and after a North Korean howitzer was spotted near the border. UNN reports this, citing Reuters.
Details
On Monday, October 26, a Reuters witness at an observation post in South Korea, located along the heavily fortified border, confirmed the presence of a North Korean artillery gun positioned in plain view near the border.
South Korean news agency Yonhap on Sunday, October 25, identified the weapon as a self-propelled 122-mm howitzer, saying its deployment near the border was a rare public display of such artillery.
Reuters also observed three North Korean armored vehicles with their gun barrels pointed south, as well as approximately 20–30 North Korean soldiers carrying out fencing work inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
"It is highly unusual for North Korea to put its self-propelled artillery on such prominent display," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University in Seoul.
"By deliberately displaying it, North Korea is signaling through actions rather than words that it intends to enforce its border policy by force, not through dialogue or negotiations," he added.
He also cautioned South Korea to be careful about escalating friction along the border in order to prevent an accidental clash, he added.
North Korean state media KCNA reported that in a letter sent on Sunday, October 25, the country's representative to the United Nations said Seoul was using the landmine incident to portray Pyongyang's construction of a border strip as a military invasion.
In the letter, North Korea warned that violations of its sovereignty could lead to self-defense measures, and that South Korea would be "fully responsible for all consequences."
The letter was a response to South Korea's letter to the UN Security Council last week, which said that the September 21 explosion in the demilitarized zone had been planted by North Korean troops and constituted a violation of the Korean War Armistice Agreement.
The United Nations Command, which oversees the demilitarized zone, said that a North Korean mine across the line violated the armistice. Pyongyang denies responsibility.
A spokesperson for South Korea's Ministry of Unification said on Monday that North Korea's letter appeared to repeat its existing position and was an attempt to justify its so-called work marking the border line.
The ministry had no separate comment on the deployment of the howitzer. Seoul has proposed dialogue with North Korea to ease tensions along the border.
North Korea's letter also repeated accusations that South Korea had opened fire on North Korean personnel, calling this a violation of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of another state.
Seoul said its military issues warnings and fires warning shots to force North Korean soldiers to return behind the line when they cross the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), which divides the DMZ.
A Yonhap report carries photographs taken at an observation post in the South Korean border city of Gimpo that appear to show the howitzer, as well as North Korean troops conducting drills along the coast of Kaepung County, approximately 1.5 km from the observation post.
A similar incident occurred in 2015, when South Korean troops were wounded by North Korean mines. Seoul then resumed broadcasting anti-North Korean slogans across the demilitarized zone, leading to a military standoff. After North Korea expressed regret, the standoff ended with a high-level inter-Korean agreement.