Updated at 03:52 a.m. ET on Oct. 15, 2024.
North Korea blew up its side of roads connected to South Korea on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, after Pyongyang vowed to cut cross-border transport links amid disputes over drones that the North says have flown over its capital.
The South Korean military responded by firing shots south of the Military Demarcation Line.
“The North Korean military conducted detonations, assumed to be aimed at cutting off the Gyeongui and Donghae roads, at around noon and is carrying out additional activities using heavy equipment,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS, said.
The South’s military did not suffer any damage and it responded by firing shots south of the Military Demarcation Line, the JCS added.
“The military is closely monitoring the North Korean military’s activities and maintains a firm readiness posture amid strengthened surveillance under South Korea-U.S. cooperation,” it said.
The Koreas are connected by roads and railways along the Gyeongui line, which connects the South’s western border city of Paju to the North’s Kaesong 26 kilometers (16 miles) away, and the Donghae line along the east coast. But the border has been sealed in recent years and heavily guarded on both sides, so destroying the roads on the North Korean side is unlikely to have much impact.
Last week, JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo told lawmakers that the Gyeongui and Donghae routes had been effectively cut off in August, noting that the military had been monitoring the North’s activities.
The North has removed street lamps and installed mines along its side of the Gyeongui and Donghae roads, as well as deploying troops to build apparent anti-tank barriers and reinforce barbed wire within its side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, the South Korean military said.
The two Koreas are still technically at war, having signed an armistice, not a peace treaty, when the Korean War ended in 1953. Under the agreement the two sides drew a Military Demarcation Line near the 38th parallel, establishing a 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) demilitarized zone, or DMZ, on either side of the border.
South Korea’s unification ministry “strongly” condemned North Korea's blowing up of parts of inter-Korean roads as a clear violation of an inter-Korean agreement and a “very abnormal” act.
The ministry, which oversees inter-Korean relations, said it deplored the North’s repetition of such a “regressive” act, citing Pyongyang’s unilateral move in 2020 to blow up the joint liaison office in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
The ministry added that the project to connect the roads and railways involved South Korean loans worth US$133 million as it provided construction equipment in the form of loans at the request of the North.
“North Korea still has an obligation to repay the debt,” said the ministry, adding that all responsibilities related to the destruction of the inter-Korean land routes lie with North Korea.
Tuesday's explosions came after North Korea announced last Wednesday that it would cut off roads and railways to South Korea and bolster border defenses.
The South’s military said on Monday it had detected signs the North was planning to blow up the roads by installing covers over them in preparation for the blasts.
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Relations between North and South Korea have been particularly strained recently with both sides exchanging threats of annihilation if the other were ever to attack.
North Korea claimed last Friday that South Korean drones carrying anti-regime propaganda leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang three times this month, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occurred again.
In response, South Korea’s defense ministry warned that the North would face “the end of its regime” if it caused any harm to South Korean people, while its JCS said it could not confirm whether the North’s drone claims were true.
Edited by Mike Firn.
Updated to include a statement from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification.