SEOUL – North Korea’s military has exhibited unusual activities near the South Korean border, Seoul defense officials said, as leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese leader Xi Jinping exchanged messages promising unity amid rising US-China tensions .
Seoul officials on Tuesday refused to elaborate on the nature of the activities. South Korean media had previously reported that Pyongyang deployed 240mm rocket launchers on Changrin, an island some 20 miles from South Korea.
“US and South Korean intelligence officers are in close contact and monitoring North Korea’s armed forces,” a Seoul military spokesman told reporters. “We are not ruling out any possibility.”
The latest versions of this weapon could target South Korean military bases and warships in the Yellow Sea and were displayed at a parade in Pyongyang last year, but a North Korea expert warned against reading the movement as a provocation. “They are upgrading their weapons, just as we upgraded our tanks or jets,” said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul.
The development was announced hours after China and North Korea said their leaders exchanged messages emphasizing stronger strategic cooperation in the face of unidentified “hostile forces”.