(Bloomberg) — North Korea blew up sections of roads in its own territory that are part of a network of links once used to connect the southern part of the peninsula with the north, in a show of defiance after it accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang.
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North Korea detonated bombs north of its eastern and western borders at around noon on Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. South Korea’s military later fired off warning shots within its border, in the area south of the Military Demarcation Line, according to the JCS, which also confirmed there were no reports of damage in South Korea from the detonations.
A video released by the South Korean military showed smoke billowing from roads following an explosion, with North Korean troops monitoring the operations nearby.
South Korea strongly condemned North Korea’s actions, calling it an “extremely abnormal” act that violates inter-Korean agreements. The roads were built as a cooperative project between the two Koreas, with Seoul providing materials and equipment for construction.
While the incidents reflect an escalation of tensions on the peninsula, they don’t signal the imminent start of a military conflict, analysts say. North Korea has tended in the past to engage in provocative acts in the runup to major political events overseas, including US elections.
“The explosion is a symbolic move to highlight that Pyongyang now sees South Korea as an enemy state,” said Park Won Gon, a professor at South Korea’s Ewha Womans University, specializing in international relations. “It was not a direct provocation to South Korea, so Seoul is unlikely to overreact to it to further escalate tensions.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been pushing to sunder ties with his neighbor, ruling out the possibility of a peaceful unification. He held a meeting on defense and security Monday to discuss military action plans in response to alleged drone flights, according to state media Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has bristled at what it claimed to be the infiltration of drones in its airspace by Seoul and ordered artillery units along the border to “get fully ready to open fire” in an immediate strike if necessary. Kim’s regime called the drone infiltrations a “war provocation.”
South Korea hasn’t said whether it sent drones across the border. Hours after the explosions, the North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said Pyongyang has secured “clear evidence” that the South Korean military was behind the drones crossing the border. She warned of a “dear price.”
North Korea said last week that it will “completely separate” its territory from the South, blaming Seoul’s joint drills with the US and the deployment of US strategic assets in the region for exacerbating tensions.
The destruction of roads connecting the two Koreas is not the first time Pyongyang has targeted symbols of rapprochement. In 2020, it demolished an inter-Korean liaison office in what was seen as an attempt to draw maximum global attention with little immediate risk of war.
Tuesday’s detonations also appear largely symbolic after Kim removed the concept of peaceful reunification with the South from the country’s policy stance and said that he has the legal right to “annihilate” his neighbor on the divided peninsula.
Kim’s regime has also stepped up its defiance of the US and its allies in recent years by ramping up its nuclear production efforts and strengthening ties with Russia. Washington has accused North Korea of supplying ammunition and missiles to Moscow for its war in Ukraine, charges that Pyongyang denies.
Last month, North Korea released its first photos of a facility to enrich uranium for atomic bombs, showing Kim touring a plant at the center of a program that has been a point of friction with the US for more than 20 years.
–With assistance from Shinhye Kang and Yasufumi Saito.
(Adds South Korea’s statement in paragraph 4)
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