Widespread flooding in North Korea has not stopped Kim Jong Un's regime from building fortifications on the country's contested border with the South, lawmakers in Seoul were told on Thursday.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said a large number of the North's soldiers continue to be sent to front-line areas on the North's side of the Demilitarized Zone, the 2.5-mile buffer either side of the 160-mile Military Demarcation Line.
Its report to the National Assembly, South Korea's unicameral parliament, said Kim's forces were installing land mines in the DMZ despite a series of accidents—fatal explosions—in recent weeks.
Barriers suspected to be tank traps have been erected at the inter-Korean border since April, the Yonhap news agency reported the South Korean military as saying.
At the turn of the year, North Korea's 40-year-old supreme leader labeled the South his country's "principal enemy." He has accused the longtime U.S. ally of seeking to wage an American-led nuclear war against his regime.
Pyongyang has repeated the message domestically in recent months to justify its repeated missile tests, flouting multiple U.N. Security Council prohibitions in the process. This week, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said the Korean Peninsula had become "the biggest hotbed in the world."
Analysts say Kim, like any strongman leader, fears regime insecurity. Signs include public discontent and desertion, with Seoul receiving the latest North Korean defector on Thursday at its western sea border.
South Korea's defense report said the North launched 37 ballistic missiles and 11 cruise missiles this year. Seoul said Pyongyang was still preparing to put its second spy satellite into orbit following its abortive attempt in May.
"Despite opposition from the international community, North Korea is continuing to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities," South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik told lawmakers.
He called the moves "a serious threat" to the region and the world.
The North Korean Embassy in Beijing could not be reached for comment after hours.
U.S. and South Korea forces have held 10 large-scale military exercises this year, double the number of drills over the same period last year.
On Tuesday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry blasted Germany's decision to join the U.N. Command, the now 18-member military force that helps to maintain the 1953 Korean War armistice.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang called it "an act of wrecking peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and aggravating the situation."
"The present ever-escalating military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula demands the DPRK take more thorough measures for bolstering up its self-defensive capabilities to defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state," the ministry said, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
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