Increased tension on the Korean Peninsula

These developments have heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.

On August 17, the spokesperson for the Republic of Korea (RoK)'s Unification Ministry Jeong Joo-hee said the DPRK’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK Thae Yong Ho, had defected to the RoK. 

Thae Young Ho was the highest ranking diplomat to defect to the RoK. The same day, the DPRK’s Atomic Energy Institute said the DPRK had reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods removed from a graphite-moderated reactor to serve plutonium production. 

The Atomic Energy Institute also added that Pyongyang had also been manufacturing the highly enriched uranium required for nuclear arms and power production as scheduled.  

The next day, a report revealed that the DPRK has built three anti-air artillery bases outside Pyongyang in an effort to defend its capital city and military compounds. 

According to Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, the expansion of the anti-aircraft artillery bases demonstrates that of Kim Jong Un's government will develop not only its nuclear arsenal but also its conventional weapons.

In its latest announcement on 22 August, the DPRK threatened to turn Seoul and Washington into “a heap of ashes through a Korean-style pre-emptive nuclear strike” if they showed any signs of aggression toward the DPRK’s territory during their annual military drills, known as “Ulchi Freedom Guardian”. 

An English-language statement by the General Staff of the DPRK’s Korean People's Army (KPA), said the combined first-strike units of the KPA keep themselves fully ready to mount a preemptive retaliatory strike at all enemy attack groups involved in Ulchi Freedom Guardian. 

The statement claimed that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is so tense that a nuclear war might break out at any moment.

The DPRK’s recent moves have received strong reactions from the US, the RoK, and Japan. 

The spokesman for the US State Department Mark Toner said if reports on Pyongyang’s plutonium production are correct, it is obviously a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, which prohibit such activities. Washington called on Pyongyang to avoid exacerbating tensions in the region and to implement its international obligations on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. 

Mr. Toner said that the US would protect its allies including the RoK and Japan. 

The RoK's President Park Geun Hye said any attempt to threaten the RoK and its people will never be successful.  

The spokesperson for the RoK’s Defense Ministry Moon Sang Gyun said Seoul planned to work closely with relevant countries and international organizations to seek ways to cope with the DPRK’s resumption of plutonium production. 

Japan has set up a system to regularly monitor the satellite systems of other countries to cope with the DPRK’s missile provocation. 

Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said Japan Self-Defense Force is ready to shoot down possible missiles from the DPRK at any time. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have never subsided but recent developments on the peninsula have worried the public.