The unification ministry on Thursday “strongly” condemned North Korea’s move to cut off all roads and railways connected to South Korea as an act that dampens aspiration for unification by people in the two Koreas.
North Korea’s military said Wednesday it will “permanently shut off and block the southern border” with South Korea by cutting off all roads and rail links with the South and building front-line defense structures.
The North said the measure will “completely separate” North Korea’s territory from that of South Korea, which Pyongyang called the “primary hostile state and invariable principal enemy.”
“We strongly condemn North Korea’s measure as an anti-unification and anti-national act that spurns aspiration for unification by our people and residents in North Korea,” a unification ministry said.
This photo, taken Oct. 9, 2024, shows areas at North Korea’s Kaepung County in North Hwanghae Province, observed from a site in Paju, a South Korean border city, as North Korea’s military said it will ”
permanently shut off and block the southern border” with South Korea by cutting off all roads and rail links with the South and building frontline defense structures. (Yonhap)
This photo, taken Oct. 9, 2024, shows areas at North Korea’s Kaepung County in North Hwanghae Province, observed from a site in Paju, a South Korean border city, as North Korea’s military said it will “permanently shut off and block the southern border” with South Korea by cutting off all roads and rail links with the South and building frontline defense structures. (Yonhap)
The official said North Korea had not notified the South of its measure in advance as it appears to want to avoid inter-Korean contact under its “two hostile states” stance.
The two Koreas have roads and railways connected to each other — along the Gyeongui line, which connects the South’s western border city of Paju to the North’s Kaesong, and the Donghae line along the east coast.
South Korea’s top military officer said the North’s announcement may be aimed a
t preventing people from leaving the country.
“(We) think it could be to block the outflow of people inside,” Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit session. “Such measures will only isolate itself and is an irrational act.”
Since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean relations as those between “two states hostile to each other” and vowed not to seek unification with South Korea late last year, the North has taken steps to close inter-Korean routes.
It has installed landmines and removed street lights along its side of the western Gyeongui and eastern Donghae land routes, and removed railway sleepers on the northern side of the two rail links.
Since April, North Korean troops have also been spotted building apparent anti-tank barriers and reinforcing barbed wire within the North’s side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.
The JCS chairman said the North had effectively completed cutting off the Gyeonggi a
nd Donghae lines in August by removing railway sleepers and rails after installing mines last December.
“Such activities were monitored in advance,” he said as he showed images of North Korean troops shutting down inter-Korean routes. “The announcement (this week) was intended to acquire legitimacy.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency