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Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Monday that "a grave situation is prevailing" along the inter-Korean border and that Pyongyang is considering deploying more tactical strike weapons and restarting loudspeaker broadcasts against the South.
"To cope with the prevailing situation, our military leadership is examining the issues of deploying more tactical strike means along the southern border as a pre-emptive and suppressive measure to deal with contingency, and of resuming loudspeaker broadcasting against the ROK, and considering other necessary and appropriate measures," she said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The warning raises tensions along the heavily fortified border despite South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's push for dialogue, as North Korea steps up weapons tests and fortification work along the Demilitarized Zone.
"A grave situation is prevailing along the southern border due to the reckless behavior of the ROK military gangsters," Kim said, using the acronym for South Korea’s official name.
"The warmongers of the ROK military are seriously threatening the safety of our service personnel by firing warning shots at them with automatic rifles and large-calibre machine guns," she said.
She said South Korea carried out 2,870 loudspeaker warnings and fired 201 warning shots between Aug. 1 and Oct. 17, which she said had "gone beyond the red line."
Seoul has not disclosed data on its activities near the border.
Kim said the Lee government, despite advocating "reconciliation" and "peace," had "far outpaced the die-hard conservative regime of Yoon Suk Yeol" in escalating confrontation.
She warned that if the actions continue, "Seoul will surely regret and face uncontrollably terrible danger."
Kim called a recent mine blast a "farce."
A joint investigation by Seoul and the U.N. Command concluded that a blast last month that wounded South Korean soldiers inside the DMZ was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South’s side of the border.
North Korea has denied involvement.
South Korea’s military said on Oct. 5 that the North had deployed as many as 7,000 workers this year to install mines and fences, with about 50 border-crossing incidents.
"Pyongyang seems to be worrying that such warning activities by Seoul might escalate tensions near the border or cause a military conflict," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University in Seoul.
"Efforts will be made to open the door for dialogue between South Korea and North Korea and to hold talks on peace and joint prosperity," South Korean Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said Sunday.
"Our efforts to open the road to peaceful coexistence of South Korea and North Korea cannot stop," she added.
Since taking office in June 2025, Lee has halted anti-North propaganda broadcasts and banned activists from flying leaflet balloons across the border, as Kim Yo Jong’s warning tests Seoul's outreach.
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