Reinforcing the border

1 km north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the western, eastern, and central fronts.

Recently, an incident occurred where about 10 North Korean soldiers crossed 50 meters into our territory on the central front, likely related to the barrier construction. North Korea is also laying military roads to connect the barrier to frontline units and planting additional mines north of the MDL. If barriers and mines are added to the barbed wire along the armistice line, the North and South will be completely separated….

In late 2020, Kim Jong-un enacted the ‘anti-reactionary thought law’ to block the Korean Wave (Hallyu). The law states that those who watch or distribute S. Korean dramas will be executed, even specifying to ‘break their spines to death.’

He fears that admiration for South Korea could destabilize the Kim family’s hereditary rule. Defectors who attempted to go to S. Korea or had contact with S. Koreans or churches were sent to political prison camps or summarily executed. To prevent North Korean residents from escaping, Kim Jong-un sealed the entire 1,400 km North Korea-China border with barbed wire.

The North Korean MZ generation, known as the ‘Jangmadang (market generation),’ is different from previous generations. Having experienced that it is the market, not the Workers’ Party, that feeds them, therefore they do not unconditionally obey Kim Jong-un’s authority.

Currently, 500,000 to 600,000 MZ generation North Koreans are serving at the armistice line. If loudspeaker broadcasts to North Korea resume, frontline North Korean soldiers will inevitably be exposed to the Korean Wave and external information. Considering the structure of the North Korean regime, information from the free world is far more threatening than American missiles. The barrier at the armistice line is primarily to prevent the defection of ‘MZ’ North Korean soldiers.

East Germany built the Berlin Wall in 1961 but could not stop the influx of information from the free world. When internal dissatisfaction and contradictions exploded, the wall collapsed in an instant. The same could happen in North Korea.