Where are North Korean soldiers currently stationed, and what are their missions?
The answers to these questions can be gleaned, at least in part, from recent materials released by the North Korean government.
First, there is the statement by the spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of Defense that was published in the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday. In this statement, the spokesman warned South Korea and the U.S. to cancel their annual Freedom Shield joint military exercises, which the North says are raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
After the statement was released, most South Korean news outlets ran headlines about North Korea’s opposition to the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise, quoting the last line of the statement about the U.S. and South Korea being “made to pay a dear price.”
Taken in isolation, the phrase about paying a “dear price” would suggest that North Korea is about to start a war.
But I would like to draw attention to another part of the statement which mentions “the reality that the DPRK [that is, North Korea] is mobilizing large-scale military forces for economic construction to promote the people’s well-being.”
In short, the spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of Defense admitted in a public statement that the Korean People’s Army (KPA) is currently engaged in large-scale construction projects. This raises another question – why is the KPA being deployed to construction sites?
Empty threats?
It is in accordance with the orders of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim unveiled the details of the “20×10 regional development policy” at the 19th Extended Meeting of the 8th Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, emphasizing an “industrial revolution in the provinces.”
North Korea has been holding rallies at all levels of its organizations to motivate the public to achieve the goals of the policy. Significantly, propaganda posters designed by the North Korean authorities emphasize that “the KPA should become the standard-bearer and the main force in the struggle for provincial development.” In short, we can conclude that the KPA has been mobilized on a large scale to carry out this policy.
At the same time, Kim Jong Un has been creating a sense of crisis on the Korean Peninsula by threatening to start a war this year. But the soldiers who would be needed to fight such a war are currently assigned to building factories in the provinces.
The deployment of large sections of the KPA to factory construction sites was again confirmed at the groundbreaking ceremony for a factory in Songchon County on Feb. 28. The ceremony was personally supervised by Kim Jong Un, who arrived in his personal train. But the most notable aspect of the ceremony was a commemorative photo of Kim and soldiers of the newly organized 124th Regiment of the KPA.
Kim even distributed the regimental colors to encourage the soldiers to work on the construction project. Photographs and text about the groundbreaking took up three of the six pages of the Rodong Sinmun, underscoring Kim’s laser-like focus on regional development policies.
Under Kim’s orders, the KPA is involved in large-scale construction projects. In his quest to stay in power, Kim threatens the world with nuclear weapons while mobilizing the KPA for civic engineering projects in an attempt to appease the North Korean public.
Combined with Kim’s earlier orders for North Korea to regard the South as its “No. 1 enemy country,” the phrase “pay a dear price” further heightens fears of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Sensationalism doesn’t get us anywhere
However, exaggerating certain words and phrases in North Korean statements not only fuels the fears of the South Korean public but also does nothing to dispel the “Korea risk.”
It is no exaggeration to say that the statement of the North Korean spokesman clearly shows the anxiety of the authorities themselves.
It is undoubtedly the duty of the South Korean military to prepare for North Korean provocations on the basis of a formidable spirit and sound national security.
When some South Korean news agencies spread wrong ideas and fear of war, they only serve to divide the nation. We need to make a clear-eyed analysis of the situation inside North Korea and prepare accordingly.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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