"North Korean Troops Cross South of MDL Over 50 Times This Year Alone"

[Anchor]

The South Korean military has also announced that North Korea's border fortification work has expanded along the entire Military Demarcation Line (MDL), with over 50 border violations identified this year alone.

Reporter Park Chan-beom has the details.

[Reporter]

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) stated that North Korea's "border fortification" efforts began in April 2024 and expanded to the entire length of the MDL, the Military Demarcation Line, starting in March of last year.

Accordingly, North Korean intrusions across the MDL to construct minefields and install tactical roads and barbed wire fences were detected 9 times in 2024 and 17 times in 2025. This year, more than 50 intrusions have already been identified, with the South Korean military explaining that these activities are concentrated on the eastern front.

[Kim Seong-yoon / Director of Intelligence Analysis at the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "As (North Korean troops) patrol an area about 10 meters south of the MDL (on the eastern front) every day, intrusions have been repeated more than 40 times at a single location."]

This year, North Korea has deployed an average of up to 7,000 personnel per day to the MDL area to lay minefields and erect barbed wire fences, with the extent of intrusion into areas south of the MDL where mines were planted varying by region.

[Kim Seong-yoon / Director of Intelligence Analysis at the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "Several locations south of the MDL have been identified where North Korean troops are presumed to have planted mines, intruding an average of about 20 meters south of the MDL."]

The South Korean military expects North Korea's border fortification work, including the installation of fences and the establishment of minefields, to be completed within the next two years.

A military official also noted that differing perceptions of the MDL baseline among the South Korean military, the North Korean military, and the United Nations Command remain an issue, remarking that "military talks are needed to align the MDL."

Meanwhile, an audit by the Ministry of National Defense confirmed additional instances of frontline South Korean troops standing guard without live ammunition loaded in their firearms, known as "empty gun guard" duty.

According to information reported by the defense ministry's Office of the Inspector General to the office of People Power Party Representative Kang Sun-young, instances of "empty gun guard" duty were identified not only in the previously disclosed 1st Corps, but also in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Corps.

Following yesterday's (October 5) announcement of the final investigation findings into the DMZ landmine explosion incident, the Democratic Party urged North Korea to apologize, calling it a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement. The People Power Party criticized the government, arguing that the lack of resumed loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea or strong military countermeasures has turned the South Korean military into a "vegetative army."

Video by Oh Young-choon | Video Editing by Kim Jun-hee | Graphics by Seo Seung-hyun
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.