North Korea’s General Staff said on Wednesday that the escalating situation on the Korean Peninsula requires “more decisive measures” for the country’s security, prompting Pyongyang to close roads and railways with South Korea, Korean media reported.
The announcement portends a further escalation of activity near the demarcation line separating the two Koreas, which has been rare in recent years – until this year.
North Korea has been planting mines and barriers and creating wastelands along the heavily militarised border for months this year despite accidents, South Korea’s military said in July.
A statement from the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, reported by the KCNA news agency, said it was in response to military drills conducted by South Korea, which it called “a major hostile state and an unchanging main enemy,” as well as frequent visits by US strategic nuclear forces to the region.
South Korea’s defence ministry said in a statement that the United Nations Command (UNC) had been notified of the issue but declined to give specific details.
South Korea is in close liaison and co-operation with the UNC over North Korea’s statement, the ministry added.
The US-led UN Command is a multinational military force overseeing the situation in the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas, which technically remain at war.
In January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un proposed constitutionally designating South Korea as a major enemy and called for the term “compatriots” for South Korean residents to be dropped. Earlier, Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons in case of an attack on the DPRK.
