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| A North Korean military parade is seen in the photo published by the Rodong Shinmun, the official newspaper of the North's Workers' Party, Monday. / Yonhap |
North Korea increasing military threats amid high-level talks
By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea is sending contradictory messages as it holds inter-Korean talks while increasing threats to the South.
The military said Monday that North Korea has deployed landing craft air cushions (LCACs) near the border with South Korea.
"Some 20 amphibious landing vehicles, from Cholsan, North Pyongan Province, have been moved to 60 kilometers north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea," a military official said.
The NLL is a de facto maritime border between the two Koreas.
According to the defense ministry, Kim Jong-un has dispatched special forces to the border tasked with destroying loudspeakers set up by the South that are relaying anti-Pyongyang propaganda. In addition, 70 percent of its submarines, numbering approximately 50, have left their bases and their movements are currently untraceable, the ministry added.
"The LCAC is a dangerous asset posing a threat to border islands. Raising tensions between South and North Korea is an attempt to hold a dominant position in negotiations," said Chang Yong-seok, a senior analyst at Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies.
"As the North urgently wants to stop the South from airing propaganda messages, it has quickly heightened tension on the peninsula."
Tensions are escalating after last week's exchange of fire across the border.
The South resumed its propaganda campaign on Aug. 10 in retaliation for the North's landmine attack in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that seriously wounded two South Korean soldiers.
In order to ease the tension, Hwang Pyong-so, the North's second-in-command and Kim Yang-gon, the top North Korean official in charge of inter-Korean affairs, held negotiations with South Korean National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo.
In response to the North's saber-rattling, Seoul and Washington are considering deploying the U.S. strategic military assets, including B-52 and B-2 bombers and a nuclear submarine as part of the joint efforts to deter provocations from the reclusive country.
"Keeping close tabs on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea and the U.S. are reviewing the timing of the deployment of strategic U.S. military assets," defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing.
Although Kim did not identify the military assets, they are expected to include the B-52, B-2 and a nuclear-powered attack submarine, stationed in Yokosuka, Japan.
The B-52 is a warplane capable of launching nuclear-armed cruise missiles and the B-2 has a radar-evading stealth function, enabling the aircraft to penetrate anti-aircraft defenses to drop conventional and nuclear weapons.
In the spring of 2013, when the repressive state threatened to attack the U.S. as well as the South, the combined forces flew those strategic weapons, along with the F-22 stealth fighters, to the peninsula.
The plan came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed its commitment to fight together in the event of any provocative action taken by North Korea.
"We are carefully monitoring the situation. We will continue to coordinate closely with the South and remain steadfast in our commitment to the defense of our allies," Gabrielle Price, a State Department spokeswoman, told Yonhap News Agency, Sunday.
