1 of 3 | North Korea blew up sections of two roads connecting with the South, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday. Screen capture courtesy of South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff video
SEOUL, Oct. 15 (UPI) — North Korea blew up sections of two roads connecting with the South, Seoul’s military said Tuesday, as a tense stand-off over cross-border provocations continues.
“The North Korean military carried out an act of detonation on October 15 at around 12:00 with the presumed purpose of blocking the connecting roads in the Gyeongui line and Donghae line areas, and is currently conducting additional work using heavy equipment,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.
The Gyeongui line is on the east coast and the Donghae line is on the west coast. Neither road has been in use for years but the gesture, which the North first announced last week, is symbolic of deteriorating inter-Korean relations.
“There was no damage to our military as a result, and our military responded by firing in the area south of the Military Demarcation Line,” the JCS said.
The South’s military is bolstering its surveillance and readiness posture in cooperation with the United States, the message added.
The JCS later released a video to reporters showing detonations at two locations. North Korean soldiers were also seen moving trucks and excavators into location at one of the sites.
The explosions came after North Korea accused the South on Friday of flying drones over Pyongyang three times this month. South Korea’s military has not confirmed whether it sent any drones over the border.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a defense meeting with top security officials to discuss the drone infiltration, state media reported Tuesday.
The meeting discussed the “enemy’s serious provocation that violated the sovereignty of the DPRK,” according to a report in state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
Kim “set forth the direction of immediate military action and indicated important tasks to be fulfilled in the operation of the war deterrent and the exercise of the right to self-defense,” KCNA reported.
Over the weekend, North Korea’s military announced that orders were given for eight artillery brigades along the border to be on standby to open fire. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un, warned Sunday that any further drone flights would “certainly lead to a horrible disaster.”
Tensions have remained high in the border area over recent months, as the North has floated thousands of trash-carrying balloons into the South, while Seoul has responded with loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the DMZ.
