Border closures and economic sanctions did not stop Pyongyang from doubling its missile launches in 2022. Since 1984, the hermit kingdom has carried out over 270 missile tests, with more than 90 cruise and ballistic missiles fired last year alone. The current North Korean leader has repeatedly directed and prioritized the country’s nuclear development since he came into power in 2011 and had vowed to strengthen its nuclear forces at the “highest possible” speed. Experts suggest that the tests are no longer experimental, but rather a sign that “Kim Jong Un is dead serious about using nuclear capabilities early in a conflict if necessary.”

The aggressive acceleration in weapons testing has alarmed neighboring regions and led many countries, including South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, to conduct a series of military responses. However, the current tension between North and South Korea is no novel matter – in fact, provocations by the North have been a recurring theme that can be dated back to half a century ago.

THE BLUE HOUSE INVASION

Despite the end of the Korean War in the 1950s, the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone (the “DMZ,” a strip of land that runs between the Korean Peninsula) and maritime boundaries remain highly sensitive to this day, particularly during periods of military tensions. In January 1968, 31 North Korean special force soldiers from Unit 124 – an elite troop handpicked by Pyongyang’s top military group, cut through a wire fence along the DMZ and slipped into South Korea undetected. Disguised in South Korean military uniforms, each of the commandos carried a submachine gun, a pistol, 320 rounds of ammunition, 14 grenades and a knife before heading for the Blue House in Seoul with one goal in mind: assassinate the then-South Korean President, Park Chung-hee.

The men managed to hide from nearby patrolling U.S. soldiers, who were stationed less than 100 feet away, and even rested in an area less than two miles from a U.S. Army Divisional Headquarters. Their tactic involved sleeping during the day and only moving at night, covering as much as seven miles an hour through the icy mountains. However, on the second day, the group accidentally stumbled across four brothers who were out cutting wood. Unable to deceive the brothers, the soldiers took them captive but ultimately decided against killing their witnesses because it was impossible to bury them in the frozen ground. Before letting the woodcutters go, they were lectured for four hours on the benefits of Communism and warned not to inform the authorities.

The brothers immediately reported to the police and South Korea was put on high alert in search of the infiltrators. The intense special force training back in North Korea proved to have been a success, as days went by, and the group remained at large despite thousands of soldiers and police dispatched to locate them. It was reported that military training involved running for dozens of miles while carrying as much as 60 pounds of gear in freezing temperatures at high altitudes and digging into graves to hide among bodies for concealment. For this particular mission, the group from Unit 124 even practiced assaulting a full-size replica of the Blue House.

It was not until the commandos marched directly past numerous police and military checkpoints and arrived less than half a mile from the Blue House, that suspicious policemen challenged the group for information. Instead of responding to the questions, the commandos opened fire and killed the police and his driver, along with 24 civilians on a passing bus. Recognizing that their mission had failed, the commanding officer ordered his troop to run for their homeland. 27 of the 31 North Korean soldiers were killed during the following 8-day manhunt. One fleeing commando committed suicide immediately after breaking into a house and eating a bowl of white rice. Another soldier, Kim Shin-jo, surrendered to South Korea upon being captured and was released with ROK citizenship in 1970. He later became a Christian pastor and continued to live in South Korea to this day, while his parents and siblings were executed back home. Only two DPRK soldiers escaped and safely crossed the DMZ into North Korea, one of whom was identified as Pak Jae-gyong, who later became a four-star general in the military.

DEPLOYING ‘HARMLESS’ DRONES

Even though Pyongyang no longer sends death squads across the DMZ, it continues to menace South Korean leaders with the help of modern technology. For instance, a North Korean drone entered a no-fly zone that protects South Korea’s presidential office in Seoul in December 2022, sparking criticisms of the South’s air defenses for its “insufficient readiness to defect, track and shoot down such small drones.” Even though drones are technically simple and appear to cause little direct harm, they pose a threat to South Korea’s national security as they could be used to spy or launch a future attack.