North Korea claimed that South Korea had flown drones over its city, and on Tuesday, the two countries exchanged threats of destruction. North Korea then detonated the northern portions of the inter-Korean roadways that were no longer in use.
Given that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has threatened to break off relations with South Korea and give up on the idea of peacefully unifying the Korean peninsula, the demolition of the roadways is an indication of the rising disdain that North Korea has for South Korea’s conservative administration.
According to observers, Kim is still unlikely to carry out large-scale, preemptive attacks on South Korea since doing so would undoubtedly provoke fierce reaction from the stronger South Korea-US force, endangering his life.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea reported that in reaction to the explosions, South Korea’s military opened fire inside southern portions of the border. Its statement omitted information on the termination. It might have been an attempt by North Korea to stop cross-border shooting. It was not immediately clear if North Korea had responded.
According to South Korea’s military, in cooperation with the US, it is strengthening its preparedness and surveillance posture.
The North Korean military dispatched vehicles and excavators to clean the debris after an explosion near the border town of Kaesong, South Korea, as seen in video released by the South Korean military. The explosion produced a cloud of white and gray smoke. In a different video, smoke was seen rising from a seaside road close to Korea’s eastern border.
North Korea has a history of staging events to destroy facilities on its soil as a political message, including destroying an empty South Korean-built liaison office building in 2020, demolishing tunnels at its nuclear testing site in 2018, and destroying a cooling tower at its main nuclear complex in 2008. This destruction aligns with leader Kim Jong Un’s order in January to eliminate the goal of peaceful Korean unification, designate South Korea as the country’s “invariable principal enemy,” and define the North’s sovereign, territorial sphere. Experts believe Kim likely aims to diminish South Korea’s voice in the regional nuclear standoff and seek direct dealings with the U.S., as well as diminish South Korean cultural influence and bolster his rule at home.
North Korea has accused South Korea of infiltrating drones to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times this month and threatened to respond with force if it happened again. South Korea has refused to confirm whether it sent drones but warned North Korea would face the end of its regime if the safety of South Korean citizens is threatened. North Korea put frontline artillery and other army units on standby to launch strikes on South Korea if drones from South Korea are found over North Korea again.
During the previous era of inter-Korean tension in the 2000s, the two Koreas reconnected two road routes and two rail tracks across their heavily fortified border. However, operations were suspended one by one as the Koreas wrangled over North Korea’s nuclear program and other issues. Last week, North Korea said it would permanently block its border with South Korea and build front-line defense structures to cope with “confrontational hysteria” by South Korean and U.S. forces.
(AP)
