UN Command investigating incidents along the DMZ

The United Nations Command said Thursday it is investigating multiple incidents along the demilitarized zone that occurred earlier this week, including a border crossing by North Korean troops and the resumption of anti-North broadcasts by the South.

Two South Korean soldiers face the North Korean side of the Joint Security Area (JSA) while a United Nations Command officer, right, leads a tour of the truce village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea on March 3, 2023. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The United Nations Command (UNC) said Thursday it is investigating multiple incidents along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that occurred earlier this week, including a brief border crossing by North Korean troops and the resumption of anti-North broadcasts by the South.

The UNC is responsible for maintaining the armistice that ended active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War and manages incidents that occur inside and along the DMZ that divides the Korean Peninsula.

The command said that it is “currently investigating the recent issues with utmost diligence,” adding its actions “are in strict accordance with the Armistice Agreement” and aimed at “deescalating the situation to ensure peace and stability in the region.”

The command also called on the North “to return to dialogue using our established mechanisms.”

According to Seoul’s Defense Ministry, 20 to 30 North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) within the DMZ on Sunday before withdrawing after the South Korean military fired warning shots.

South Korean military authorities believe the incursion was accidental and occurred after the North Koreans became lost in rough terrain.

One of the most heavily guarded areas in the world, the DMZ functions as a buffer zone between the two Koreas. It runs approximately 160 miles across the Korean Peninsula and is approximately 2.5 miles wide.

Both sides of the DMZ are enclosed by barbed wire fences and guarded by large numbers of South and North Korean soldiers.

Despite its name, troops from both Koreas enter the DMZ at periodic intervals, mainly to conduct patrols and manage the growth of plants and vegetation that could otherwise obscure their line of sight toward the other side.

Sunday’s incursion took place only a few hours before South Korea resumed anti-North broadcasts through loudspeakers stationed along the border for the first time in six years.

The broadcasts were prompted by the North’s decision to fly hundreds of trash-laden balloons across the border, which Pyongyang’s state-controlled media said was intended as retaliation against anti-regime leaflet launches by defector groups based in the South.

According to the South Korean government, the North has launched more than 1,600 balloons carrying excrement, cigarette butts and other general trash into the South since May 28.

In response to the North’s balloon launches, South Korea has fully suspended its participation in a September 2018 inter-Korean military agreement that was intended to reduce military tensions along the border and lower the risk of accidental clashes.

The UNC is also currently investigating the North’s balloon launches and called them violations of the armistice.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-kyou said Seoul would “actively support” the UNC’s investigation.

The JCS also said Monday it observed moves by the North to install anti-South loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border in response to the resumption of broadcasts from the South.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]