North Korea builds 10km of anti-tank barriers at border

A South Korean opposition lawmaker on Tuesday claimed that North Korea has constructed around 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of anti-tank barriers near the inter-Korean border, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Yu Yong-weon, a lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party, said satellite imagery and intelligence from the Joint Chiefs of Staff show Pyongyang has built four clusters of barriers, each about 2.5 kilometers long, north of the Military Demarcation Line within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

"North Korea's anti-tank barriers are symbolic structures demonstrating its 'two hostile states' policy," he said, urging the South Korean military to incorporate the new obstacles into its defense plans.

In October last year, North Korea confirmed that it had amended its constitution to officially designate South Korea as a "hostile" state, citing security threats and escalating tensions between the two countries.

In 2023, North Korea abandoned a 2018 inter-Korean agreement that created buffer zones along land and sea borders and no-fly zones over the demilitarized zone. This suspension of the agreement restored full-scale military operations near the inter-Korean border.