SEOUL, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Tensions have subsided at the disputed maritime border between North and South Korea, but Pyongyang has begun constructing a military facility on an uninhabited island.
Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff told television network KBS that construction began in early October on Ari Island, about 7.5 miles from Yeonpyeong Island, which Pyongyang bombarded in 2010, killing four South Korean civilians.
The South Korean military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the purpose of the North Korean construction was not clear. The digging of ditches required to construct encampments, for example, had not taken place, and it is more likely the island is being used to crack down on Chinese fishing vessels encroaching into Korean waters during the October-November crab season.
"It seems rather improbable the construction is for a military encampment. Judging by the rate of North Korea military activities, it's likely the construction is for an observatory," an unnamed official told South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Sinmun.
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North Korea did build a military outpost on the uninhabited island of Gal, and in July Seoul's military authorities said Pyongyang had installed four 122-mm multiple rocket launchers, with a range of 12 miles and capable of hitting South Korean territory.
Rockets are a national defense priority for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang's state-media outlet KCNA reported that Kim had ordered the additional development of "modern and precise" anti-aircraft rockets, and ran images of Kim watching a firing drill, Yonhap reported.
"[Kim] underlined the need for the field of national defense science to more dynamically develop various types of new anti-aircraft rockets suited to the demand of a modern war so as to firmly defend the blue sky of the homeland from any airstrike of enemies," KCNA stated.
South Korean analyst Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the military training was probably held before the U.S.-South Korea defense dialogue on Monday.
"It seems to be strategically intended to counter the South Korea-U.S. coordination," Yang said.
