North Korea blew up the inter-Korean road on the Gyeongui Line and the East Sea Line...our military counter-fire

■ Host: Lee Se-na Anchor, Jung Chae-woon Anchor
■ Telephone connection: Cho Han-beom, chair researcher at the Korea Institute for Unification,

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN New Square 2PM] when quoting.

[Anchor]
This time, we will connect with Cho Han-beom, a chair researcher at the Korea Institute for Unification, to find out the North's bombing situation and future prospects. How are you, Commissioner?

[Cho Han-beom]
Hello.

[Anchor]
North Korea blew up some sections of the Gyeongui Line and the East Sea Line in the daytime today, and it was already expected, right?

[Cho Han-beom]
That's what I expected. This doesn't seem to have much to do with the current drone crisis and the infiltration of the drone into Pyongyang. Of course, there are aspects that have been accelerated, but North Korea at the end of last year. Chairman Kim Jong-un was converting the two Koreas into two completely hostile countries and cutting all the connections and connections between the two Koreas. They then lay landmines, construct barriers, and barrenize them. That's why it was expected.

So, it is likely that the unification of the Constitution, the deletion of the concept of the nation, and the establishment of new borders were not achieved at the Supreme People's Assembly, but Chairman Kim once again talked about the two-state theory at Kim Jong-un's Military University, and he said it was creepy to be conscious of the South. So you can see that we're continuing to separate.

[Anchor]
As the East Sea Gyeongui Line spans the Demilitarized Zone, there have been concerns about local warfare about the bombing point, so how about looking at the bombing point?

[Cho Han-beom]
Strictly speaking, North Korea acted in the northern region. So, it's not a situation where we attack or hit our side. So, of course, it goes against the spirit of the North-South Basic Agreement, inter-Korean relations, and various existing basic spirits, but this is a direct provocation against us, but there are some complicated problems.

[Anchor]
North Korea continues to develop and implement fortification strategies, but what do you see as the intent of such a fortification strategy?

[Cho Han-beom]
2 countries. So, the Kim Jong-un regime is a reactionary thought and culture rejection law in 2020 after the inter-Korean-US summit, which began in 2018, and the so-called peace process on the Korean Peninsula failed. We created it, and then we started with the Pyongyang Language Protection Act, and we declared the transition to a completely different country, two-state relationship that is not related to us in every way, and we are now working on a perfect separation.

So now, we have switched to a war relationship, and North Korea's work in the DMZ now can be seen as a defensive dimension rather than an offensive one. We've switched to war relations, so everything builds barriers and mines. So I'm going to go to another country through fortification. Because it means something like this, we're going to continue this kind of fortification and perfect separation in the future.

[Anchor]
The Korean Central News Agency said North Korean State Councilor Kim Jong-un convened a consultative meeting on defense and safety yesterday, which is considered to be the National Security Council and NSC of South Korea. How should I look at the intentions of this convocation?

[Cho Han-beom]
That's how you see it. Because for North Korea, Kim Jong-un's office is the headquarters of the Workers' Party. In other words, drones penetrated three times over the presidential office in Yongsan, and then the air defense network was breached three times. It's probably in a state of emergency. So intelligence officials and security officials all attended. Especially noteworthy is that I heard the report of the Director General of Reconnaissance and the Chief General of the People's Army. Then, unlike us, North Korea does not have the right to operate to the corps commander or division commander in the forward zone. That's because the Reconnaissance General Bureau is always terrorizing and provoking there.

So, we judge that the Cheonan, Yeonpyeong Island, and the wooden ship mine provocation were all carried out by Kim Young-chul, director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau at the time. So, the Reconnaissance General Bureau reports that some kind of work is being carried out under the leadership of the Reconnaissance General Bureau. Since the chief of the general staff is our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he is the kind of person who can carry out the entire war. So I heard a report on that part, too. So it seems to be considering the current situation as a state of emergency, which is actually equivalent to the wartime posture, and we held a meeting accordingly.

[Anchor]
You said you were looking at it as an emergency, but yesterday, Vice Minister Kim Yo-jung made another statement. He argued that the main culprit was the South Korean military and that the U.S. should take responsibility. What do you think is the reason why you keep pouring out such rude comments and mentioning the United States?

[Cho Han-beom]
I can see my insides clearly. Because tomorrow, on the 16th, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Campbell is visiting Korea. So now, North Korea seems to have been more shocked than expected by the infiltration of drones, so we are taking every step to prevent it. The artillery firing instructions for the eight brigades in front of the People's Army artillery are also instructed to shoot down the drones when they come over. And if that leads to a secondary skirmish. Because if North Korea fires, it will be a bullet to our side, and according to our military manual, we will also shoot.

Then I even gave them instructions to respond to this. Also, the air defense system around Pyongyang has been strengthened. So the goal now is to make every effort to re-invade drones, but Secretary Campbell is coming, so the U.S. should stop him. Persuading Korea is harsh, but it can be seen as a compliment to the United States.

[Anchor]
Concerns about additional provocations from North Korea are also being raised, so what form do you think it will be if we launch additional provocations?

[Cho Han-beom]
In my opinion, an unexpected incident, that is, a drone from the Korean side, I think a Korean private organization would have done it. Without additional actions or unexpected events, it is not easy for North Korea to make provocations first or make explicit military provocations unless they are certain to host. Therefore, the unexpected variable now is the additional behavior of private organizations. In many ways this time, there is no reason to do a self-produced drama in North Korea or that the headquarters of the Workers' Party was breached.
Then our military is a clear violation of international law, the invasion of airspace. I don't think it's very likely that our military did this. Then, the unexpected variable now is a private organization. If there are no unexpected variables from private organizations, North Korea does not intend to provoke first. So right now, neither side of the South nor the North has any intention of escalating. However, since there is quite a high possibility of accidental collisions caused by accidental variables and triggers, private organizations must now cooperate in managing tensions.

[Anchor]
Both the South and the North have no intention of escalating war. But after North Korea blew up the inter-Korean road today, our military fired back south of the MDL. I don't want to expand this part either, is it part of this part?

[Cho Han-beom]
It seems reasonable. Because it is true that North Korea has raised tensions due to explosions in the North. Then, shooting in our jurisdiction is seen as an appropriate response. Because it would be a problem if it went over, but it raised tensions in the north and did some kind of unwanted explosion or some kind of military action, so that was the right level if we took corresponding action. So each side has taken military action in their own sovereignty, so you can look at it like this.

[Anchor]
Lastly, what do you think of our military's message and response method when the South Korean military is taking strategic ambiguity over North Korea's alleged infiltration of drones?

[Cho Han-beom]
Whether our military did it or not, we don't make either or that ambiguous position. However, we cannot completely rule out the possibility of whether it was inside North Korea or North Korea's own play. In that situation, it is not desirable for our military to move on from our side or make some kind of clear position. Therefore, saying that it cannot be confirmed can cause confusion in North Korea's response, and in fact, all possibilities must be clearly opened, so it is not a very bad strategic situation in my view.

However, it is not desirable for this strategic ambiguity to lead to the misunderstanding that the South Korean military did it. Because it's a violation of international law. So, keep strategic ambiguity, but you can't confirm it, and that's not desirable for public opinion to be driven toward what our military did.

[Anchor]
So far, we have looked at the North Korean issue with Cho Han-beom, a chair researcher at the Korea Institute for Unification. Thank you for saying that.

[Cho Han-beom]
Thank you.