North Korea Mobilizes Soldiers Near Border As Tensions Flare

North Korea has reportedly ordered frontline troops to further strengthen defenses along its border with the South, including by ramping up mine-laying operations, a new report says.

The report from South Korean news outlet Daily NK, which cites a source in the communist country’s eastern border province of Gangwon, comes amid already tense inter-Korean relations. Pyongyang plans to deploy a total of 12,000 troops to aid its Russian ally in the war against Ukraine, Seoul said last week, claiming some 1,500 are already in Russia’s Far East. North Korea has denied these claims.

North Korea’s defense ministry has issued an order to two Korean People’s Army corps, both frontline units stationed on the eastern front, the anonymous source said.

“Let us steadfastly defend the southern border of our country and inscribe a legacy of countless victories,” read the order. It was reportedly issued on Friday, a day after North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament amended the constitution to label Seoul as a “hostile state,” fulfilling a directive voiced by Kim Jong Un earlier this year.

The report also comes after Northern forces destroyed sections of road and track on the western Gyeongui and eastern Donghae rail lines near the heavily militarized border last week, in a continuation of the regime’s systematic purge of symbols of unification with the South.

State media cited the country’s military leadership as saying the destroyed infrastructure would be replaced with fortifications.

Friday’s order referenced this demolition work and directed the 1st and 5th corps to “build a fortified defense network” to further cement territorial separation from the South, according to the source.

As part of this process, the ministry also reportedly ordered army engineers to randomly deploy mines along the border, with this to be completed ahead of drills slated to kick off on December 1.

“The Ministry of Defense has consistently stressed that the corps carrying out this order must be aware of the background of why such a move is necessary, and that its main purpose is to maximize defense capabilities against possible conflict with hostile countries,” the source added.

Newsweek reached out to the North Korean embassy in Beijing, China, with a written request for a response.

North Korea has already been engaged in mine-laying this year within the Demilitarized Zone, a 160-mile buffer area along both sides of the border, despite a series of accidents. In July, South Korean officials reported that at least 10 had occurred so far, resulting in multiple deaths.

The war between Ukraine and Russia, which in June inked a military cooperation agreement with Kim, has further driven North-South tensions.

Pyongyang on Monday dismissed the South’s reports of Northern boots on the ground in Russia as “groundless.” The Kremlin has equivocated but said its ties with the North are within the bounds of international law and do “not run counter” to Seoul’s security interests.

The U.S. has expressed concern but not confirmed the reports of Northern troops in Russia but said the development, if true, would be “serious.”

Meanwhile, South Korea is reportedly weighing a major policy shift.

Yonhap News cited a senior official in President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration as saying the option of providing Ukraine with “weapons for defense and attack” is still on the table.

This would mark a shift from South Korea’s current approach of indirectly supplying arms through third countries such as the United States.