North Korea blows up roads and rail lines connecting it with South

The Telegraph: North Korea has blown up roads and rail lines connecting it with South Korea.

In a move that has raised tensions on both sides of the Korean peninsula, the North detonated landmines at locations on its side of the border on Tuesday.

In response, South Korea’s military fired warning shots south of the military demarcation line dividing the neighbours, according to its Joint Chiefs of Staff. The road and rail line detonations did not cause any damage on Seoul’s side of the border, the JCS said.

The explosions came after Pyongyang pledged last week to completely cut off inter-Korean roads and railways and further fortify the areas on its side of the border.

The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

The cross-border links are remnants of periods of rapprochement between the countries, including a 2018 summit between the leaders at which they declared there would be no more war and a new era of peace had begun.

Around 180 billion won ($132 million) in taxpayers’ money was spent by South Korea to rebuild the inter-Korean road, according to the Yonhap news agency.

There has been an escalating war of words between the Koreas after the North accused its rival of sending drones over the capital, Pyongyang, on Friday.

North Korea said the drones had scattered a “huge number” of anti-North leaflets in what it called a political and military provocation that could lead to armed conflict.

South Korea has previously accused the North of sending more than 3,000 rubbish-laden balloons over the border since May.

On Monday, Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, held a meeting with defence and security officials to discuss how to respond to the “enemy’s serious provocation that violated the sovereignty of the DPRK”, the KCNA state media reported.

DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

In December, Kim declared that the country would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with the South. He said it was “a relationship between two hostile countries and two belligerents at war.”