Roads to South to be cut off by North Korea
North Korea has said that it will cut off access to South Korea by roads and railways as it plans to “completely separate” the two countries. The military announced that it would “permanently shut off and block the southern border” along with increasing fortifications on its side.
This was “a self-defensive measure for inhibiting war” according to the Korean People’s Army (KPA) which claimed that it was in response to war exercises by the South and the presence of nuclear assets from America in the region.
This signals an escalation in hostility during a period of time in which tensions between the two countries have reached the highest point in years.
“The acute military situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula requires the armed forces of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) to take a more resolute and stronger measure in order to more creditably defend the national security,” a report from the KPA published by state outlet KCNA said.
The declaration is mostly symbolic as the roads between the Koreas are hardly used, being incrementally dismantled by North Korean authorities over the past year. It also comes as Pyongyang aims to alter its relation to Seoul, and a string of inflammatory incidents that have caused tension between the two countries.
These have included missile tests and hundreds of trash balloons being sent over the border by North Korea. Kim Jong-un has announced at the beginning of 2023 that he is no longer striving towards reunification. This has raised concerns that war could break out in the Korean peninsula.
“I think it is necessary to revise some contents of the Constitution of the DPRK,” Kim told a meeting of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) earlier this year.
“In my view, it is necessary to delete such expressions in the constitution as ‘northern half’ and ‘independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity,’” he added, as he suggested that that the constitution should be revised “at the next session.”
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