SEOUL: South Korea on Wednesday said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to order his army to mine the Demilitarized Zone, despite fatal incidents from accidental explosions.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, at least 10 accidents leading to multiple casualties have been detected in the northern DMZ, a 160-mile buffer zones on each side of the de facto Korean border, known as the Military Demarcation Line.
The moves by North Korea are part of Kim’s plans to secure the entire border area and cut all physical connections with the South, which he declared Pyongyang’s principal enemy earlier this year.
Officials in South Korea have said that Kim’s forces were suffering the consequences while working in the heat for 12 to 13 hours a day without shift changes or holidays.
Kim’s workers, which also included female soldiers, were sleeping in makeshift tents on site, according to the Yonhap News Agency. It said South Korea was preparing for possible defections from the North because of the poor working conditions.
Earlier, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Yong, said South Korea would pay a huge price for failing to stop rights activists from sending anti-North leaflets across the border. Authorities in the South have not yet intervened.
