Kim Yo-jong warns loudspeakers along entire border will be activated in October

Kim Yo-jong, a director of North Korea's Korean Workers' Party, announced that Pyongyang will activate anti-South Korea loudspeakers along its entire border this month.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Kim said "psychological warfare loudspeakers targeting South Korea will enter operation along the entire border line in October" and that "our tactical hunting units are occupying new positions," KCNA reported, according to Yonhap.

Kim also corrected an earlier KCNA report that said she and Defense Ministry adviser Pak Jong-chon had inspected southern border fortification construction sites on Tuesday. "The date was written incorrectly," she said, adding that she had visited multiple border locations not on Tuesday but "in the early hours of Wednesday."

Kim said the border "was clearly blocked off and is being increasingly fortified," calling it "clear evidence that a history we have long written wrongly is being corrected, and that the safety of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea today and in the future is being qualitatively guaranteed."

She also said the head of state — referring to Kim Jong-un — had emphasized that "the fact that we share a border with the most wretched and vile enemy in the world is a horrific tragedy, and therefore that border must become a permanent line that can never be crossed." She added that "once the border is made permanent, the risk of military conflict in this region will undoubtedly be eliminated."

Kim also claimed that South Korean forces had broadcast loudspeaker warnings and fired warning shots at a minimum of two locations that day. She described the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts toward the South as "the most justified measure and an appropriate response."

Earlier Wednesday, KCNA reported that Kim and Pak Jong-chon, a Defense Ministry adviser, had inspected southern border fortification construction sites on Tuesday, according to Yonhap.

KCNA said Pak "assessed the state of barrier construction aimed at permanently sealing the border and encouraged the officers and soldiers fighting with single-minded dedication in the historic struggle to strengthen the country's border line despite all manner of interference and threats from the enemy."

Kim said "our military leadership must make those gangster groups aware that our new fire units have taken up firing positions," adding that the head of state "has ordered that not a single inch be conceded in exercising territorial sovereignty, and that the border with the hostile state be made into the most permanent line."

She also declared that "the historic project of permanently sealing the southern border of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea can absolutely not be reversed."

Pak dismissed South Korean military claims that North Korean soldiers had crossed the MDL as "an intentional and calculated fabrication aimed at shifting responsibility for escalating tensions onto us in pursuit of impure objectives."

The South Korean military had called on North Korea to halt its so-called border fortification work after three South Korean soldiers were wounded on Sept. 21 by land mines that North Korea had planted south of the MDL in the demilitarized zone.

The visit by Kim and Pak signals intent to press ahead with border fortification on schedule.