North Korea blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas on Tuesday, prompting South Korea’s military to fire warning shots.
Tensions have been rising on the Korean peninsula, with Pyongyang saying last week it would cut off the inter-Korean roads and railways entirely and further fortify the areas on its side of the border as part of its push for a “two-state” system scrapping its longstanding goal of unification.
At around midday on Tuesday, some northern parts of road and rail lines connected to the South were destroyed, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, condemned the incident as a clear violation of past inter-Korean agreements, calling it “highly abnormal.”
“It is deplorable that North Korea is repeatedly conducting such regressive behaviour,” ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam told a briefing.
In response to the blasts, the South’s military fired warning shots south of the military demarcation line, although there was no damage on Seoul’s side of the border, it said.
A video released by the South’s military showed an explosion and a plume of smoke rising above an area of road where the North had put up a black barrier. On the South Korean side, a road sign read “Goodbye” and specified that the North Korea city of Kaesong was 10 metres (33 feet) ahead.
It also showed several dump trucks and earth movers approaching with a group of North Korea military officials observing and guiding the vehicles.
The JCS said the North had already been installing landmines and barriers along the border, and warned on Monday that it was getting ready for a detonation.
The South had increased surveillance and readiness after the incident, it said.
OLD SIGNS OF RECONCILIATION
Pyongyang has been taking steps to sever inter-Korean ties, redefining the South as a separate, hostile enemy state, since leader Kim Jong Un declared it a “primary foe” early this year and said unification was no longer possible.
