North Korea threatens to send army into demilitarised border zone as tensions escalate

Kim Yo Jong has threatened to move North Korean troops back into demilitarised zones
AP

North Korea has threatened to move back into zones that were demilitarised under inter-Korean peace agreements as the country continued to dial up pressure on the South.

The General Staff of the Korean People's Army said it is reviewing a ruling party recommendation to advance into unspecified border areas.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un days earlier said the North would demolish a "useless" inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong.

Kim Yo Jong, a trusted aide to her brother, said she would leave it to the military to come up with the next step of retaliation against the "enemy" South.

It comes amid stalled nuclear negotiations between the North and the US.

"Our army is keeping a close watch on the current situation in which the (North-South) relations are turning worse and worse, and getting itself fully ready for providing a sure military guarantee to any external measures to be taken by the party and government," said the KPA's General Staff.

While it was not immediately clear what actions North Korea's military might take against the South, the North has threatened to abandon a bilateral military agreement reached in 2018.

The aim of the deal was to reduce tensions across the border.

The Koreas then committed to jointly take steps to reduce conventional military threats, such as establishing border buffers on ground and sea and no-fly zones.

They also removed some front-line guard posts in a symbolic gesture.

The North's military also said it would open unspecified areas near the ground border and its southwestern waters so that North Koreans could send anti-South Korea propaganda leaflets to the South, in an apparent tit-for-tat against North Korean defectors and activists floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

Choi Hyun-soo, spokeswoman of South Korea's Defence Ministry, said the South Korean and US militaries were closely monitoring the North's military.

She said the inter-Korean military agreement should be kept.

Recently announced as her brother's top official on inter-Korean affairs, Kim Yo Jong in recent weeks has repeatedly bashed South Korea over declining bilateral relations and its inability to stop leafleting by defectors and activists.

North Korea in recent months has suspended virtually all cooperation with the South while expressing frustration over the lack of progress in its nuclear negotiations with Washington.

The talks have faltered with the Americans rejecting North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

The North has also threatened to abandon bilateral peace agreements reached during Kim Jong Un's three summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in 2018, while also expressing frustration over Seoul's unwillingness to defy US-led international sanctions and restart inter-Korean economic cooperation.

Mr Moon on Monday called on North Korea to stop raising animosities and return to talks, saying that the rivals must not reverse the peace deals.

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