Egrets rest on Dragon's teeth, or concrete anti-tank obstacles designed to impede the movement of armored vehicles, in Paju, South Korea, 14 July 2026. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
Aug. 9 (Asia Today) -- North Korea is integrating conventional firepower near the inter-Korean border with tactical nuclear weapons systems, effectively transforming the area into what a South Korean researcher describes as a "nuclear-armed border."
Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said in a recent report that North Korea has carried out a five-stage process to turn its southern boundary into a hardened military frontier.
Hong analyzed 160 North Korean military activities conducted between January 2024 and June 2026.
He divided the process into five stages: declaring a new border concept, severing the Gyeongui and Donghae transportation links with South Korea, fortifying and managing the border, institutionalizing the policy through laws and Workers' Party directives and reorganizing firepower along the frontier.
