Even mentioning "The Second Berlin Wall"...Should North Korea Build a Huge Line of Defense? [Y Record]

■ Host: Anchor Yoon Jae-hee
■ Telephone connection: Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University

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

◇Anchor> After the road blast, North Korea is known to deploy heavy equipment to build a fortress. There is also talk of the second Berlin Wall, so will an iconic barrier be created?

◆Park Won-gon> That's right. As I said earlier, fortification is officially made by the General Staff, so we will work on fortification. However, the total length of the military demarcation line between the two Koreas is 248 kilometers. It's a very long road. It is judged that it is impossible to fortify all of these in this way and build a barrier, and it is probably judged by our military as well, but there is a possibility that it will go to a show-off method through barriers such as creating a barrier to a tank barrier. However, it is judged that there is still a possibility of building a concrete barrier right away as this point, which was blown up yesterday, symbolizing the inter-Korean blockade. One of the reasons why North Korea does this is that it intends to stop the North Korean troops from defecting to the South and towards us. Last August, a North Korean soldier defected to the East Sea Line in Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, by walking the armistice line. And since South Korea has turned on loudspeaker broadcasts since July, there may be a stir in the North Korean military at this point where it has been more than three months. Perhaps, to rule out such possibilities, North Korea has begun to fortify it in earnest.

◇Anchor> Unrest among border residents is also growing due to rising tensions. Gyeonggi Province has designated 11 cities and counties in Paju City, Gimpo City, and Yeoncheon County as dangerous zones. It is intended to crack down on the spraying of anti-North Korean leaflets, but under the current circumstances, if anti-North Korean leaflets are sprayed again, there is a high possibility of armed conflict, right?

◆Park Won-gon> As of now, it is unlikely that a North Korean leaflet will be sent from our South Korean group. Because it's not about the wind, is it? There is no wind now from south to north. Since it usually doesn't blow from September to April, balloons can be sent for a very short period of time from April to that period, from May to August. As far as I know, South Korean organizations have not been able to send leaflets and balloons for the past two months. Nevertheless, from the perspective of Gyeonggi-do Province, residents living in nearby areas are naturally anxious, so I think it is necessary not to send the leaflets in any form in terms of crisis management right now.



Excerpted from the conversation: Lee Mi-young, editor of the digital news team

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