North Korean troopers have been noticed developing anti-tank boundaries in 4 locations alongside the Navy Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea. The lengths of every barrier differ, with some within the dozens of meters and others within the tons of of meters. Pictured are troopers engaged on a barrier close to the Donghae Line, a railway that connects North and South Korea on the jap coast. (courtesy of the Joint Chiefs)
“North Korea is claimed to be putting in a triple layer of barbed wire out of considerations over a South Korean invasion and constructing boundaries in case tanks cross over,” South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said throughout a coverage briefing held by the Ministry of International Affairs and the Unification Ministry on the central authorities advanced in Seoul on Friday.
In the course of the onset of the Korean Warfare, South Korean forces have been helplessly outflanked when the North Koreans got here rolling in on their T-34 tanks — a reminiscence that has left South Korea with lasting trauma on the subject of tanks.
To those that consider that North Korea is biding its time till a chance presents itself and it might probably invade the South, the truth that North Korea is constructing boundaries as a result of it’s afraid of South Korean tanks appears quite peculiar.
When did North Korea begin constructing anti-tank boundaries? Based on the reasons given by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees, North Korea started putting in boundaries, barbed wires and mines within the neighborhood of its facet of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in April 2024. They’re additionally clearing vegetation within the space to safe unobstructed strains of sight.
“The North Korean navy has all the time performed actions equivalent to planting landmines, creating barren land, and reinforcing roads yearly each spring and fall. Nonetheless, this 12 months sees an even bigger scale in operations in addition to a rise within the variety of troops concerned,” a Joint Chiefs official said in June 2024, “The set up of what are presumed to be anti-tank boundaries can also be a brand new transfer on North Korea’s half.”
On the time, the Joint Chiefs revealed that anti-tank boundaries, standing roughly 4-5 meters in peak, have been being constructed in 4 places alongside the Northern Restrict Line (NLL), which lies 2 km north of the Navy Demarcation Line (MDL). The boundaries stood from tens to tons of of meters in size.
An evaluation of satellite tv for pc pictures from European microsatellite operator ICEYE by Rep. Yu Yong-weon, a Individuals Energy Celebration lawmaker on the parliamentary Nationwide Protection Committee, in October confirmed that North Korea had constructed anti-tank boundaries, round 10 km in size, in all 4 places which can be 2 km north of the MDL.
The boundaries are 4-5 meters in peak, with the partitions going through south being made from concrete and being roughly 2 meters thick. Yu defined {that a} thick layer of earth was piled behind the concrete partitions, towards the north, appearing as assist.
North Korean troops restore the chain-link fence alongside the jap border in 2024. (courtesy of the Joint Chiefs)
The barricades dot the landscapes of the plains and non-mountainous areas close to the Panmunjom, in Kaesong, Hwanghae Province; north of Jeokseong, Paju; north of Pyonggang and Goseong in Gangwon Province. These align with the axes utilized by North Korea’s invasion of the south through the Korean Warfare: the Kaesong-Munsan axis, the Cheorwon-Uijeongbu axis, and the Goseong axis, which exhibits that these three axes stay probably the most viable conflict routes on the Korean Peninsula even to at the present time.
When contemplating the mountainous terrain of the Korean Peninsula, tank maneuvers are extra possible alongside the comparatively flat Kaesong-Munsan axis and the Cheorwon-Uijeongbu axis, with the previous being nearer to Seoul.
When North Korea started to assemble anti-tank barricades alongside the Kaesong-Munsan axis, which might see the motion of North Korean tanks within the occasion of a contingency on the Korean Peninsula, folks couldn’t assist however surprise if North Korea was primarily tying its personal palms and abandoning its plans to invade the South.
Such analyses are additional bolstered by the truth that North Korea has minimize off roads and bridges north of the MDL. If North Korea is to ship tanks to the South for an invasion, it will have to preemptively reinforce bridges and crossings north of the MDL, as one North Korean tank weighs 30-50 tons, requiring street and river upkeep to make sure clean tank motion throughout a battle. Historic information from the Korean Warfare present that North Korea strengthened bridges and roads alongside the thirty eighth parallel earlier than launching its invasion.
North Korea’s development of anti-tank boundaries and the severing of bridges and roads don’t align with any type of state of affairs involving a North Korean invasion spearheaded by tanks.
In truth, one can’t assist however speculate that North Korea could also be involved about the potential of an invasion by South Korea — particularly contemplating the growth of South Korea’s tank forces and its offensive navy operations.
South Korea’s protection white paper from 2022 signifies that whereas North Korea possesses extra tanks than South Korea, at roughly 4,300 to round 2,200, the South leads in qualitative navy power.
Most of North Korea’s most important battle tanks are of the second technology, developed within the Forties to Sixties, with some first-generation tanks developed throughout World Warfare II nonetheless within the combine as properly. The tank at the moment thought of North Korea’s most important battle tank design is the Chonma, a mannequin based mostly on the Soviet T-62, which was manufactured in 1961. In the meantime, 80% of all South Korean tanks are third-generation tanks, developed within the Sixties to Nineteen Eighties.
The operational posture of South Korea’s tank items can also be extremely aggressive, additional strengthening the claims of a push northward. The VII Maneuver Corps, particularly, is so specialised in offensive missions that its salute slogan is “Advance north.” Even throughout the navy, the VII Corps is known as the “vanguard corps of the northern advance,” which may overwhelm North Korea within the case of a contingency.
The VII Maneuver Corps possesses roughly 1,000 tanks, Okay-9 self-propelled howitzers, and armored autos, incomes it the status of getting the world’s strongest corps-level fight energy. Not like infantry items tasked with defending their assigned areas in a contingency, the VII Maneuver Corps is assigned the mission to quickly advance towards the center of North Korea by breaching the MDL. In a contingency, the corps is tasked with advancing towards key North Korean areas equivalent to Pyongyang utilizing tanks, armored autos and self-propelled artillery.
Nonetheless, through the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the Joint Chiefs defined that the boundaries being constructed by the North have been constructed “in a vogue that makes them simple to deconstruct,” suggesting that it is likely to be an overreach to say the boundaries have been an indication that North Korea has given up on its plans to invade the South.”
As well as, the earlier administration defined that the measures have been being carried out to not stop South Korean tanks from invading, however as a result of North Korea was meaning to completely sever inter-Korean ties based mostly on North Korea’s recognition of the 2 Koreas sharing relations of hostile, belligerent states, and to forestall North Korean civilians and troopers from defecting.
North Korea has, for the reason that finish of 2023, outlined North and South Korea as being in a relationship during which “two states [are] hostile to one another.”
By Kwon Hyuk-chul, workers reporter
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