According to Yonhap:
North Korea has recently deployed about 50,000 special forces along its border with South Korea, a source here said Wednesday, as tension rises on the divided peninsula over a suspected deadly North Korean attack on a South Korean warship.
“North Korea recently completed the frontline deployment of seven light infantry divisions, which is something it had been pushing for since two to three years ago,” the high-level source said, adding each division consists of about 7,000 troops.
North Korea has in recent years increased the number of its special forces to 180,000. Defense officials here say the troops would infiltrate South Korea and try to throw its defense into confusion if another war broke between the two countries.
The frontline deployment of special forces comes as South Korean increasingly suspects a North Korean submarine sank one of its warships along their tense western sea border on March 26.
Forty died and six went missing in the sinking that has sparked national mourning and led President Lee Myung-bak to vow a stern response to those responsible.
North Korea denies its involvement in what has become one of South Korea’s worst naval disasters, but it is coming under growing suspicion because its history of attacks.
The latest attack took place in November last year, when a North Korean patrol boat shot at a South Korean one and retreated in flames after taking heavy fire.
South and North Korea remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
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N. Korea has deployed 50,000 special forces along frontlines: source
Yonhap
5/5/2010
