A South Korean dam along the Imjin border river releases water. [Yonhap News Photo]
A North Korean dam along the inter-Korean border has been under close watch as its water level was near capacity, sparking concern about the sudden release of water into South Korea, military officials said Tuesday.
The North's "Hwanggang Dam" is located on the upper reaches of a border river, some 42.3 kilometers (25.4 miles) north of the border line which splits the demilitarized zone, a buffer zone established at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The military-controlled dam capable of storing up to 400 million tons of water has been a headache in South Korea every year whenever the monsoon season comes, because North Korea has sometimes released water without warning, flooding border areas.
South Korea's defense ministry said on Tuesday that its was closely monitoring the dam's water level because North Korea could open its food gates any time without telling Seoul.
In 2009, the unnoticed discharge of water from the dam killed six South Korean campers. In May this year, North Korea twice discharged water without warning, though no casualties were reported.
The dam was built to provide agricultural water but South Korean military officials have voiced fears that North Korea could use it for a cross-border "flooding" attack.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
