In my opinion the blowing up of the two roads by North Korea is more performative for the ROK and international media than anything of substance between the two Koreas. I doubt President Yoon is going to lose any sleep over this:
North Korea blew up the northern sections of two inter-Korean roads, Tuesday, in an apparent attempt to sever all ties with South Korea and formalize a hostile, two-state system on the Korean Peninsula.
“North Korea exploded parts of the Gyeongui and Donghae roads north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) at around noon,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a message sent to reporters.
Gyeongui Road, which linked the two Koreas in the western part of the country, was primarily used by businesspeople operating factories at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North. Meanwhile, Donghae Road along the east coast was utilized by tourists visiting North Korea’s Mount Geumgang.
The JCS said it fired several shots south of the MDL after the road explosions, adding it has intensified its readiness and surveillance posture. South Korea’s military had already observed on Monday that Pyongyang was preparing to destroy the road.
You can read more at the link, but these two roads have not been used for many years after the closing of the Kaesong Industrial Complex near Panmunjom and the ending of tours to the Kumgang Resort on the east coast. So blowing them up is meaningless and if for some reason one of these two inter-Korean projects were to get restarted the road can easily be repaired probably with ROK money.
North Korea had nothing to lose from this provocation and gained yet again wide media attention which means they achieved thier objective with this stunt.
It looks like the ROK government may have come up with their response to North Korea’s trash balloon attacks even though they deny it:
North Korea said Sunday it has ordered its artillery corps near the border with South Korea to fully prepare to shoot after the North threatened a “horrible disaster” over the alleged flight of drones over its capital.
North Korea claimed the South had sent unmanned drones over Pyongyang three times this month.
In a statement carried by its state media, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North’s leader Kim Jong-un, said the North was ready to take a “strong corresponding retaliatory action” in case drones carrying anti-Pyongyang materials are flown again into the North, warning that the “attack time” can come at any time.
In response, South Korea’s defense ministry said any attempts by the North to harm its people would result in the end of the Kim regime.
On Friday, North Korea’s foreign ministry claimed that South Korean drones carrying leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang on Oct. 3, as well as Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun initially denied that the military had sent any drones across the border, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff later said it could not confirm whether the North’s claims were true.
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if the activist group Fighters for a Free North Korea flew this drone with a wink and a nod from the ROK government?
This is really just symbolic because the road and railway lines are not being used anyway:
North Korea’s military said it will cut off all roads and railways connected to South Korea starting Wednesday and build “strong defense structures” in the areas in response to South Korea-U.S. military maneuvers.
“A project will be launched first on October 9 to completely cut off roads and railways connected to” South Korea and “fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures,” the general staff of the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a report carried by the Korean Central News Agency, noting the measures will “completely separate” North Korea’s territory from that of South Korea.
You can read more at the link, but North Korea is probably betting that whenever another leftwinger gets elected to President of South Korea they will pay to rebuild these road and rail links anyway.
The Korea Times has an article published that discusses what little options South Korea has to deter North Korea’s trash balloons:
Complicating matters for them is the apparent shift in North Korea’s intentions behind the balloon launches. Initially, Pyongyang claimed the balloons were in retaliation against anti-North Korean leaflets sent by South Korean civic groups, many of which consist of defectors from the North.
“The regime has continued the balloon campaign even after the leaflet launches stopped. This suggests that the balloons are now a tit-for-tat response to South Korea’s use of loudspeakers along the border,” Yang said.
In late July, South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts across the border in response to the balloon launches. These broadcasts operate simultaneously from fixed loudspeakers in the border regions at full volume.
A military official said that the broadcasts are still operating from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. but declined to provide further details, citing operational secrecy.
“Instead of blasting the broadcasts day and night, our military should use the broadcasts more flexibly depending on the North’s behavior, such as switching them on only when it launches the balloons and turning them off when it remains silent for days,” Cho said.
Yang suggested that an ideal scenario would be for both Koreas to agree to a moratorium on psychological warfare, although this seems unlikely given their hawkish stances and the absence of a communication channel.
The professor also mentioned the possibility of international organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) — where both South and North Korea are member states — mediating to ease tensions caused by the balloons.
He added, “Unless the government takes swift action, we are going to see thousands of more balloons since conditions are becoming more favorable for North Korea’s balloon launches, with winds blowing southward in the fall.”
You can read more at the link, but I don’t think North Korea has any intentions of stopping the trash balloons. It is a low cost gray area provocation for them that is providing them valuable military intelligence on where these balloons are landing while disrupting South Korean society. This disruption is putting pressure from the public on the Yoon administration to do something when there is really not much they can do.
It is looking more and more likely that Putin has found some more fresh meat to throw into the Ukrainian grinder:
North Korea is likely to deploy members of its regular armed forces to Ukraine in support of Russia, South Korea’s defense chief said Tuesday, in the latest sign of deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
The assessment came as North Korea has been seeking to bolster ties with Russia, highlighted by a bilateral agreement that includes a mutual defense clause, signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at summit talks in June.
“As Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual treaty akin to a military alliance, the possibility of such a deployment is highly likely,” Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit session.
You can read more at the link.
It looks like Putin has found some more cannon fodder for his war in Ukraine:
![Artillerymen of the 15th Operative Purpose Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard fire a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops amid a Russian assault near the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region on Thursday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rokdrop.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.jpeg?ssl=1)
Six North Korean officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on their position along the Russian frontline of the occupied Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian news reports on Friday.
Ukrainian military intelligence officials who were quoted anonymously by the Kyiv Post and Interfax-Ukraine said over 20 military personnel, including the North Korean officers, were killed in the strike.
Russian military bloggers reported earlier in the day that North Korean military officers were visiting the frontline to see how Russian forces set up defensive positions and were “preparing for assault operations” before the Ukrainian missile struck.
According to the Russian Telegram channel Kremlin Snuffbox, three North Korean officers were also injured in the strike and were sent to Moscow to be treated.
You can read more at the link.
