The Korean Central News Agency reported on Wednesday that Kim laid out the position a day earlier in a statement titled "The Instigators of the Provocation Must Be Prepared to Pay the Price for Their Self-Staged Farce."
In the statement, Kim claimed, "In terms of the timing and method of the provocation, this incident is a clear self-staged performance that closely resembles the 'wooden-box mine incident' that stirred the world more than a decade ago."
In the 2015 wooden-box mine incident, a mine believed to have been planted by North Korean troops south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) exploded and seriously wounded a South Korean noncommissioned officer. In response, the South Korean military resumed loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North.
Kim charged that "what cannot be overlooked is the fact that this time, too, the South Korean military gangsters are fabricating groundless findings and openly talking about 'implementing appropriate and corresponding measures' to manufacture 'justification' for political and military provocations against us."
She added, "Can we just sit and watch the shabby spectacle of them stepping on a mine of unknown origin in a place they cannot even identify, then recklessly casting suspicion on someone and prattling that it is a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement?"
Kim also pushed back against calls from the opposition People Power Party and others to resume loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North. "The behavior of the South Korean lot, which first pins the blame for the incident on others and then tries to fabricate 'physical evidence' to prove it, is the height of absurdity and nonsense," she said.
On fortification work underway along the border, she said it was "nothing but a thorough exercise of sovereignty unrelated to any military purpose." She claimed instead that the South Korean military is threatening the safety of North Korean soldiers with warning broadcasts and gunfire while alleging that they have crossed the line.
"It is a deliberate and calculated fabrication meant to shift responsibility for the deteriorating situation onto us," she said. "Our soldiers have never once crossed the border line."
Kim also warned of retaliation if live fire occurs. "If even a single bullet lands on our soil, they will have to be prepared for a great deal," she said. "If the South Korean military gangsters fire live rounds, not warning shots, at our soldiers, our border units will carry out immediate and merciless retaliation."
She said guidelines for such a response "have already been issued to the border defense units," adding that measures would be taken to reinforce tactical counterattack assets in the direction of the DMZ facing the South Korean Army's 21st Infantry Division under the 3rd Corps.
"The dramatic climax of Seoul's self-staged farce will be anything but entertaining," she said. "Responsibility for all the consequences will rest entirely with those who planned the provocation."
The statement was not carried in domestic outlets accessible to North Korean residents, such as the Rodong Sinmun or Korean Central Broadcasting.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday released interim findings on the Sept. 21 DMZ explosion, saying it was highly likely caused by a mine planted by North Korean troops. The military has said it will take "corresponding measures" if the device is ultimately confirmed to be a North Korean mine.
