go through Jack Horton, do it, Daniel Palumbo, BBC Verification
New satellite images show North Korea is building what appears to be parts of a wall at several locations near its border with South Korea.
Images analyzed by BBC Verify also show land within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has been cleared, which experts say may be a breach of the long-standing armistice with South Korea.
The demilitarized zone is a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) wide buffer zone between North and South Korea, which are still technically at war and have never signed a peace treaty. The DMZ is divided into two, with each side controlled by its own country.
Experts say the latest activity is “unusual” and comes at a time of tense relations between the two countries.
“Right now we can only speculate that North Korea is looking to strengthen its military presence and defenses along its border,” said Shreyas Reddy, a reporter for NK News, a Seoul-based professional website.
BBC verify commissioned high-resolution satellite imagery of a 7km stretch of the border as part of a program to understand the changes North Korea has made to the area.
The images appear to show barriers in at least three areas near the DMZ, covering a total area of about 1 kilometer near the eastern end of the border.
Further barriers may also be constructed in other areas of the border.
The exact date construction began is unknown due to a previous lack of high-resolution imagery of the area. However, these structures are not visible in the image taken in November 2023.
Dr Uk Yang, a military and defense expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, told the BBC: “My personal assessment is that this is the first time they have built a barrier between different areas.”
“Back in the 1990s, North Korea built anti-tank walls to stop the advance of tanks in the event of war. But recently North Korea has built 2-3m high walls, and they don’t look like anti-tank walls,” Dr. Yang explain.
“The shape of the walls shows they are more than just obstacles [for tanks]but the purpose is to demarcate an area,” added Dr. Yang, who looked at satellite images.
There is also evidence of land clearing on the North Korean side of the DMZ.
The latest satellite imagery of the eastern end of the border shows what appears to be a newly constructed passage.
When drawing the precise northern boundary of the DMZ in the map above, we used BBC research on boundary mapping. This is because the available boundary maps are slightly different. However, all versions we found showed land clearing within the DMZ.
An official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a recent briefing interview that the military has identified ongoing activities related to “strengthening tactical roads, laying mines and clearing wasteland.”
Professor Kil Joo Ban, professor of international security at Korea University, said, “Land clearing can be used for both military and non-military purposes.”
“It could easily establish observation posts that would allow North Korea to monitor military activities in South Korea” and detect “defectors trying to cross the border into South Korea,” he said.
“Building in the DMZ is unusual and may violate the armistice,” said Professor Che Weike, senior vice president for Asia and Korea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953, in which both sides pledged “not to commit any hostile act in, from, or against the DMZ.”
Although reunification seemed unlikely for years, it remained the North Korean leader’s stated goal until early 2024, when Kim Jong Un announced that North Korea would no longer pursue this ambition.
Some experts called the comments “unprecedented” and argued that Kim Jong Un made a major policy change earlier this year when he called South Korea his “main enemy.”
Since then, North Korea has also begun removing symbols of unity between the two countries, such as tearing down monuments and deleting content about reunification from government websites.
“North Korea doesn’t actually need more barriers to prevent attacks from South Korea, but by erecting these border barriers, North Korea is sending a signal that it is not seeking reunification,” said Ramon Pacheco, director of the Center for European and International Studies Dr. Pardo said.
Some experts also said it was consistent with Kim Jong Un’s broader actions.
“North Korea does not even pretend to want to negotiate with the United States or South Korea and has rebuffed Japan’s recent attempts to negotiate,” said Dr. Edward Howell, a Korea researcher at the University of Oxford.
“As relations between North Korea and Russia heat up, we should not be surprised if provocations between the two Koreas increase this year.”