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North Korea demolishes the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong on June 16. (Yonhap News)

On June 17, the General Staff of the (North) Korean People’s Army (KPA) announced its plans to send units into the Mt. Kumgang tourist area and Kaesong Industrial Complex for a “defense mission.” It also announced plans to redeploy troops previously withdrawn from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in accordance with an inter-Korean military agreement on Sept. 19, 2018, to “strengthen the guard over the front line.”

The KPA General Staff made the announcement in a June 17 statement attributed to a spokesperson under the title “Our Army Will Provide Sure Military Guarantee for All External and Internal Measures of Party and Government.” In it, it announced four plans to “clarif[y] the following clearer stand in line with the detailed military action plans under examination as of June 17.” The announcement was published in its entirety by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It was also printed in the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and a news outlet for domestic audiences that is read daily by North Koreans.

As a first plan, the General Staff said that “[u]nits of the regiment level and necessary firepower sub-units with defense mission will be deployed in the Mt Kumgang tourist area and the Kaesong Industrial Zone where the sovereignty of our Republic is exercised.” While the announcement states that military units are to be sent into the Mt. Kumgang tourist area and Kaesong Industrial Complex, analysts interpreted the focus as being on the “defense mission” aspect for a region “where sovereignty is exercised,” rather than on aggressive military actions such as provocations in the regions.

As a second plan, the statement said that “[c]ivil police posts that had been withdrawn from the Demilitarized Zone under the north-south agreement in the military field will be set up again to strengthen the guard over the front line.” Previously, South and North Korea withdrew weapons and troops from 10 guard posts within the DMZ as a trial effort for a complete withdrawal in accordance with the Sept. 19 Comprehensive Military Agreement; the latest announcement means the situation may regress to how it was before the agreement.

As a third plan, the General Staff announced, “The artillery units deployed on the whole front line including the southwest naval front will reinforce those on combat duty, upgrade the level of the front guard duty to top class combat duty system throughout the front line and will resume all kinds of regular military exercises in the areas close to the boundary.”

Finally, the General Staff said that “[a]reas (districts) favorable for scattering leaflets against the south will open on the whole front line and our people's drive for scattering leaflets will be guaranteed militarily and thorough-going security measures will be taken.”

“The KPA General Staff will work out these military action plans against enemy in more detail and present them to the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea for ratification at an earliest date,” the statement continued.

A day earlier on June 16, the General Staff had announced plans to “tak[e] measures to make the army advance again into the zones that had been demilitarized under the north-south agreement, turn the front line into a fortress and further heighten the military vigilance against the south.”

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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