North Korea blew up overland connections to South, says Joint Chiefs of Staff
Published: 15 Oct. 2024, 13:18
Updated: 15 Oct. 2024, 15:04
-
- MICHAEL LEE
- lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Surveillance camera footage taken by the South Korean military shows a road section north of the border along the Donghae line on the eastern coast being detonated by the North Korean military on Tuesday. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/10/15/9a158bf7-2834-47b3-8ed4-fa41d565565e.jpg)
Surveillance camera footage taken by the South Korean military shows a road section north of the border along the Donghae line on the eastern coast being detonated by the North Korean military on Tuesday. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]
North Korea blew up roads connected to South Korea on Tuesday, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
In its message to reporters, the JCS said that the North “detonated roads connecting the Gyeongui and Donghae rail lines north of the military demarcation line (MDL) around noon” and that the North Korean military had brought in “heavy equipment to carry out additional work.”
The JCS said the South Korean military responded by firing shots south of the MDL, which lies inside the 2.5-mile-wide demilitarized zone (DMZ) that divides the peninsula and constitutes the de facto inter-Korean boundary.
The JCS added that the North’s demolition work resulted in no casualties on the southern side of the border and that the South Korean military “is closely monitoring the North Korean military’s activities and maintains a firm readiness posture amid strengthened surveillance based on cooperation with the United States.”
South and North Korea were connected through the DMZ by roads and rail along the Gyeongui line, which connects the South Korean city of Paju in Gyeonggi to Kaesong in the North, as well as the Donghae line, which links the two Koreas’ eastern coasts.
The explosions came six days after the general staff of the North’s Korean People's Army (KPA) told Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) it would “completely separate” the regime’s territory from that of the South.
In the KCNA report, the North Korean military characterized the measures as “self-defensive” in nature and aimed at “inhibiting war and defending the security” of the regime against South Korea, which it described as its “primary hostile state and invariable principal enemy.”
The KPA’s description of the South mirrored the shift in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s view of South Korea, which he characterized as the North’s primary foe in a speech before the regime’s rubber-stamp parliament in January.
The KPA also said that it had communicated its plan in a telephone message to the U.S. military in the South to “prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict over the fortification project.”
![Footage captured by South Korean surveillance cameras shows the road connecting the Gyeongui Line between the South Korean city of Paju and the North Korean city of Kaesong being detonated on Tuesday. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/10/15/0ac1db31-be34-4e9e-a66e-47a968d46f5f.jpg)
Footage captured by South Korean surveillance cameras shows the road connecting the Gyeongui Line between the South Korean city of Paju and the North Korean city of Kaesong being detonated on Tuesday. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]
According to VOA’s analysis of satellite images taken by Planet Labs, the walls are set approximately 15 meters (49.2 feet) apart and span the entire 20-meter width of a road segment located approximately 320 meters north of the MDL.
Inter-Korean tensions have mounted after the North claimed on Friday that South Korea had sent drones over Pyongyang three times this month.
The following day, Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, threatened a “horrible disaster” upon the South if drones are flown again over Pyongyang.
While South Korea has neither confirmed nor denied the North’s claim, it warned that the North will see “the end of its regime” if it causes any harm to South Koreans.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)