South Korea, U.S. boost anti-submarine activities, raise Watchcon
The Koreas’ cross-border standoff showed more signs of flaring up on Sunday as the North Korean military sharply beefed up its frontline artillery forces over the weekend, while the majority of its submersibles were seen absent from their bases.
With negotiations between top Seoul and Pyongyang officials stretching into the second day, the number of North Korean gunners spotted in ready position nearly doubled from Friday, according to military authorities here.
The South’s military is also currently unable to locate about 50 undersea vehicles, or 70 percent of the North’s submarine fleet, which have left their bases.
“This is an extremely grave situation,” a senior official at Seoul’s Defense Ministry told reporters, requesting anonymity citing intelligence.
“The figure points to the artillerymen who can immediately open fire once they receive an order, not those staying under the tunnels or in their battalions.”
In particular, the movement of North Korean submarines is a critical indicator of provocation that Seoul closely keep tabs on at all times, he noted.
The move appears to be designed to seize the upper hand in the protracted negotiations at the border village of Panmunjeom while facilitating an additional provocation in case the talks break down.
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| Armed South Korean soldiers ride a military vehicle across the Tongil Bridge in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the border village of Panmunjeom, where high-level inter-Korean talks were taking place Sunday. (Yonhap) |
“It’s around 10 times the usual. We have not seen in years that many submarines that are simultaneously out of their bases,” the official said.
“This is the level where we can expect something really worrying to happen — we don’t know what kind of operations they are and will be undertaking where.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday placed frontline troops in full combat readiness, declaring a “quasi-state of war.” The North has also forward-stationed 76.2-milimeter artillery guns near the border and fully armed soldiers, Seoul officials said.
To head off any unanticipated provocation, the South Korean military is maintaining full readiness and mobilizing more antisubmarine assets such as destroyers and P-3C patrol planes, the official added.
Meanwhile, it continued loudspeaker broadcasts as scheduled, which had prompted the North to open fire across the Demilitarized Zone and then the South to shoot back on Thursday.
Late Friday, South Korea and the U.S. raised their five-stage Watch Condition by one notch to level 2, which will allow them to boost stealth and reconnaissance activities with their RC-135 “snooper” aircraft, Aegis destroyers with radar surveillance systems and spy satellites.
On Saturday, the allies flew eight fighter jets — four U.S. F-16 fighters and as many South Korean F-15K combat jets — in a rare joint air force exercise that simulated bombings of enemy targets in a show of force against North Korea.
By Shin Hyon-hee(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
