North General Staff: "Military Units to Redeploy at Geumgangsan and Kaesong Industrial Complex" (2nd Report)

Spokesperson of the People's Army General Staff Announces
De Facto Collapse of the September 19 Military Agreement

Joint strike training exercise of the North Korean military

North Korea made a sudden announcement on the 17th, just one day after blowing up the Kaesong Inter-Korean Liaison Office building, stating that it will advance military units that had been withdrawn from the Mount Kumgang tourism zone and the Kaesong Industrial Complex area.

The spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army issued a statement titled "Our military will thoroughly guarantee all domestic and foreign measures taken by the Party and the government militarily," according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency.

The spokesperson said, "The General Staff of the Korean People's Army already publicly reported on the direction of the next phase of military actions against the enemy on the 16th," adding, "As of the 17th, specific military action plans are being reviewed, and accordingly, we clarify our position as follows."

He first announced, "We will deploy regiment-level units and necessary firepower detachments tasked with defending the Mount Kumgang tourism zone and the Kaesong Industrial Complex, where the sovereignty of our Republic is exercised."

He continued, "In accordance with the inter-Korean military agreement, we will redeploy and deploy the civilian police posts that had been withdrawn from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to strengthen frontline guard duties with ironclad security."

He also stated, "We will increase combat duty shifts of artillery units deployed along the entire frontline, including the southwestern maritime front, elevate the frontline guard duty level to the No. 1 combat duty system across the entire frontline, and resume normal military training near the border areas."

The spokesperson for the General Staff further said, "We will open areas favorable for leaflet distribution against the South across the entire frontline, militarily guarantee our people's struggle to distribute leaflets to the South, and establish thorough safety measures."

He added, "We will further detail these anti-enemy military action plans and submit them for approval by the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea as soon as possible."

This announcement implies the redeployment of frontline main forces to the Kaesong area, putting Kaesong and Mount Kumgang?which symbolized inter-Korean peace and cooperation in the 2000s?at risk of reverting to arenas of intense military confrontation.

The plan to restore guard posts (GPs) within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and resume training across the entire frontline also effectively signals the nullification of the September 19 military agreement.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.