Bloomberg:
North Korea has set up posts along its border with South Korea to be able to more quickly invade its neighbor, while also expanding its artillery and mechanized forces, according to South Korea’sDefense Ministry.
Kim Jong Un’s regime is setting up “infiltration facilities” along the demilitarized zone dividing the countries to be able to both accommodate and rapidly deploy special forces into South Korea if war breaks out, the ministry said in its latest white paper released today. It didn’t say how many posts there are or whether they included tunnels and housed weapons.
North Korea has also probably developed ballistic missiles capable of threatening the continental U.S., according to the report, the first time South Korea has made the assertion in its white paper.
“These are newly spotted structures and could be part of a wider network of military bases and tunnels,” Park Chang Kwon, a senior research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses inSeoul, said by phone. South Korea is also “formally saying that North Korea has very much addressed the issues of accuracy and reliability for its intercontinental ballistic missile.”
The biannual assessment offers a glimpse into North Korea’s defense strategy as it develops asymmetric capabilities to defend against the more modern forces across its border. Under its songun, or military-first policy chartered by late leader Kim Jong Il, the North has funneled its limited resources into building weapons systems capable of deterring what it calls U.S. and South Korean hostility….
