North Korea has blown up parts of the road and railway with South Korea, referring to it as an 'enemy state'. Pyongyang said the move was a response to 'serious political and military provocations by hostile powers'. The news is from the state media.
The Korean People's Army has reportedly destroyed 60-meter-long (about 200 feet) roads and railways along the eastern and western parts of the inter-Korean border "as part of the gradual complete separation" of the North and South, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday. .
"This is an unavoidable and legitimate measure taken in accordance with the requirements of the DPRK Constitution which clearly defines the ROK as a hostile state and due to the serious security situation running to the unexpected brink of war due to serious political and military provocations by enemy forces," KCNA said, replying and Uses abbreviations of South Korean official names.
KCNA quoted a defense ministry spokesman as saying Pyongyang would take further measures to "permanently strengthen" the border, without giving details.
The move to label South Korea an "enemy state" comes after North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly met last week to rewrite the secretive country's constitution.
In a speech to his country's rubber-stamp parliament in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that reconciliation with South Korea was no longer possible and that the constitution should be changed to define its neighbor as a separate "enemy" country.
"We don't want war, but we have no desire to avoid it," Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA at the time.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Tuesday that North Korea's military had blown up the northern section of the disused road dividing the neighbors.
Tensions between the Koreans, who have remained technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty, have been on the rise since last year's unveiling of a 2018 military accord aimed at reducing the risk of military clashes along the border.
North Korea's foreign ministry has threatened "retaliation" against South Korea for allegedly operating a propaganda leaflet-carrying drone over the capital Pyongyang last week.
The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said at the time that it could not confirm the North's claim while urging its neighbor to "exercise restraint and not act recklessly".