Kim Yo Jong, head of the North Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department, said in a statement on the 19th that Pyongyang is considering resuming loudspeaker broadcasts toward the South and reinforcing ‘tactical strike means’ in response to South Korean warning broadcasts and warning shots. No official Seoul response had been confirmed at the time of writing.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun carried the statement on the 20th under the headline ‘Kim Yo Jong provokes again.’ In the statement released through the Korean Central News Agency on the 19th, Kim said ‘the situation on the southern border is now highly unstable’ and accused the South Korean military of creating a grim atmosphere in the border area.
광고 문의 · 300×250The statement said North Korea's military leadership is weighing an increased deployment of tactical strike means near the southern border, a resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts toward the South, and other measures it considers necessary. It did not say what weapons the term covers or when any step would be taken. OhmyNews and Jaekyung Ilbo reported the same content.
What the Statement Says and How It Came About
In recent months North Korea has been fortifying the border along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) with roads, fences and mines. According to Jaekyung Ilbo, the South Korean military judged that North Korean troops crossed the MDL about 50 times in August and September, and it has issued warning broadcasts under its rules of engagement and fired warning shots when the line was crossed. The government announced that a mine explosion in the western DMZ on the 21st of last month, which injured three South Korean soldiers, was caused by a mine laid by North Korea.
Kim claimed there were 2,870 warning broadcasts and 201 rounds of warning fire between August 1 and October 17. These figures were presented unilaterally by the North and have not been confirmed by the South Korean military. The statement also accused the Lee Jae-myung government of exceeding the Yoon Suk Yeol government in anti-North confrontation despite its talk of ‘reconciliation’ and ‘peace,’ and warned that Seoul would face risks it could not bear.
Background: The Loudspeaker Halt and the Sept. 19 Agreement
Loudspeakers are a psychological-warfare tool the two Koreas have repeatedly used in tense periods. The Sept. 19 military agreement of 2018 banned artillery and maneuver drills near the border and set no-fly zones, but after the Yoon government suspended part of it in November 2023 the North declared it void, and in June 2024 the whole agreement was suspended. In 2015, when Seoul resumed loudspeakers for the first time in 11 years after a mine blast, the two sides came close to armed conflict.
After taking office President Lee Jae-myung ordered the halt of anti-North loudspeakers, fixed units were removed, and the North also stopped its noise broadcasts. In his Liberation Day speech on August 15, 2025, Lee pledged to restore the Sept. 19 agreement preemptively and in stages. The North kept its ‘two hostile states’ line and did not respond, and this statement reads as its most concrete hint of loudspeaker resumption since that conciliatory turn.
Experts read the intent differently. Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification said the aim is less escalation than preventing disruption to fortification work and building a pretext to blame the South for future clashes. Prof. Lim Eul-chul of Kyungnam University said that if the South stops warning fire the North can fortify the DMZ freely, and if it continues the North could use that as an excuse to move tactical nuclear-capable weapons forward.
A Third-Party View and Outlook
No official reactions from neighboring countries had been confirmed at the time of writing. U.S. broadcaster PBS, however, noted the context in which North Korea has stepped up weapons tests, analyzed as an effort to win bigger concessions after President Donald Trump renewed efforts to restore diplomacy, and this statement can be read in that frame. The positions of China and Japan are unconfirmed; whether Beijing keeps its usual emphasis on easing tension and restraint by all parties, and whether Tokyo steps up monitoring of North Korean military moves, remain to be seen.
The reports cited here do not confirm any formal response from the South Korean government or military. The Kyunghyang Shinmun's English edition noted that the two Koreas disagree on where the MDL lies, so renewed loudspeakers could sharply raise border tension. Because Pyongyang gave no timing or scale, it remains unclear whether the statement will turn into action.
