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Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Jin Young-seung answers questions during the National Assembly National Defense Committee's audit of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 8th. / Yonhap

On the 20th, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Jin Young-seung pushed back strongly against North Korea's statement issued the previous day that shifted blame for military tensions onto South Korea, calling it "unacceptable." The JCS ordered a resolute response should the enemy carry out additional provocations.

On that day, Chairman Jin visited a corps headquarters overseeing the central front to inspect military readiness posture and presided over an operational commanders' conference attended by the commander of the Ground Operations Command and frontline corps commanders.

In addition, he assessed operational conditions in which North Korean military activities near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) have persisted even after the enemy's provocations on the 21st of last month, while reviewing operational countermeasures.

Chairman Jin stated, "The enemy planting landmines south of the MDL, inflicting severe injuries on our service members who were carrying out routine operations, constitutes a clear act of provocation and a violation of the Armistice Agreement," adding, "It is unacceptable that North Korea yesterday defined our legitimate operational measures as provocations and brazenly shifted the blame for escalating military tensions onto our military."

He continued, "Our military has responded consistently and resolutely in accordance with principles and standards against violations of the Armistice Agreement, such as the enemy's incursions across the MDL," emphasizing, "We will continue to take unwavering action and implement operations to reinforce our initiative in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)."

The previous day, Kim Yo-jong, director of the General Affairs Department of North Korea's Workers' Party of Korea, issued a statement via the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) stating that the South Korean military is picking unfounded quarrels over North Korea's so-called "border fortification" procedures and committing loudspeaker warning broadcast provocations and warning shots to escalate the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, warning that Pyongyang is reviewing resuming its anti-South loudspeaker broadcasts.

Kim said, "Loudspeaker warning broadcast provocations carried out from August 1 to October 17 reached 2,870 instances, and warning shots amounted to 201 instances," adding, "The anti-Republic confrontational machinations of the Lee Jae-myung administration, which put on a conciliatory display by advocating reconciliation and peace from the start of its term, actually surpass the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, a vicious conservative regime that openly encouraged anti-communism."

Meanwhile, following the operational commanders' meeting on that day, the JCS inspected the frontline corps' readiness posture and urged commanders to "establish strict command structures and operational discipline based on a firm determination to fulfill the mission of protecting the nation and its people at all costs."

                                                                                                              Lee Han-sol