January 04, 2022
Another Security Breach at the Inter-Korean Border Reinforces Concerns Over South Korea’s Ability to Protect Itself
On the Korean Peninsula, 2022 began with a reported North Korean defector-turned-South Korean citizen crossing the border into the North, stoking existing concerns over the security of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
Current media reports claim that a North Korean defector living in South Korea crossed the DMZ into North Korea on January 1, 2022. The individual reportedly defected to South Korea two years ago by crossing the DMZ and has seemingly taken the same route back to North Korea.
That an individual can enter and exit the “most heavily fortified border in the world” without capture raises serious concerns regarding South Korea’s ability to adequately monitor its border with North Korea.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff attributed the 2020 border security failure to a “loose screw” that prevented the border sensors from working properly. In the same year, another North Korean defector returned to the North by swimming through a border drain and South Korean officials blamed the oversight on a lack of proper training of border patrol personnel. Inadequate technology and training along the South Korean side of the DMZ are two massive vulnerabilities that North Korean operatives can exploit for a range of covert operations including dispatching spies, kidnapping South Korean citizens, and in the most extreme scenario, invading South Korea.
Defection through the DMZ is a highly dangerous and uncommon path to South Korea for North Korean refugees due to the heavy presence of landmines and soldiers from both sides of the border. Instead, North Korean defectors typically traverse 3,000 miles through China – which presents its own dangers – to a friendly South Korean embassy in Southeast Asia prior to resettling in the South.
Read the full article from The Diplomat.
More from CNAS
-
How America Wages Economic Warfare with Eddie Fishman
Podcast
The last two decades have marked a revolution in economic warfare. As the United States has increasingly sought to weaponize the global economy against its adversaries, the wo...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Jim Townsend & Edward Fishman
-
Why Financial Warfare Could Backfire on the U.S.: Podcast
Podcast
Washington has sharpened the dollar and technology into powerful weapons. Now erstwhile allies fear they are targets. In this episode of The Big View podcast Edward Fishman, t...
By Edward Fishman
-
A Primer on 21st-Century Economic Weapons
Commentary
As the economic statecraft vision of the second Trump administration begins to take shape, “Chokepoints” serves as an essential guide for some of the key battles in U.S. econo...
By Alex Zerden
-
Trump’s Trade War w/ Canada Is Just Getting Started!" | Edward Fishman PT 2
Podcast
In the second part of this enlightening episode with Edward Fishman, the focus shifts to the broader implications of economic warfare in today's geopolitical climate. Edward a...
By Edward Fishman
