North Korea explodes inter-Korea liaison office, claims South

Pyongyang had threatened to demolish the building over Seoul’s failure to stop activists from dumping propaganda leaflets

South Korea has accused North Korea of blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office building north of the tense Korean border.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry said the destruction of the building in the North Korean border town of Kaesong happened at 2.49pm (9.29 UAE time) on Tuesday.

North Korea had earlier threatened to demolish the building as it stepped up its fiery rhetoric over Seoul’s failure to stop activists from flying propaganda leaflets across the border.

Some experts say North Korea is expressing its frustration because Seoul is unable to resume joint economic projects because of US-led sanctions.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said last week the North would demolish a “useless” inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong and that she would leave it to the military to come up with the next step of retaliation against the “enemy” South.

“Our army is keeping a close watch on the current situation in which the [North-South] relations are turning worse and worse, and getting itself fully ready for providing a sure military guarantee to any external measures to be taken by the party and government,” said the KPA’s General Staff, which is equivalent of Joint Chiefs of Staff in other countries.

The North’s military also said it would open unspecified areas near the ground border and its southwestern waters so that North Koreans could send anti-South Korea propaganda leaflets to the South, in an apparent tit-for-tat against North Korean defectors and activists floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

This could potentially create security headaches for the South if Pyongyang's military vessels escort North Korean civilian boats as they approach or cross the countries’ disputed western maritime border for leafleting, said Kim Dong-yub, an analyst from Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies and a former South Korean military official.

The waters have occasionally been the scene of bloody skirmishes, including a 2010 attack on a South Korean naval ship that killed 46 sailors. The North, which does not recognise the western maritime border drawn unilaterally by the UN at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War, has denied responsibility over the sinking of the Cheonan.

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  Supporters of parliamentary election candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn of the main opposition United Future Party cheer during his street campaign, April 10, Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty

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  At a cafeteria in Seoul on April 9, employees eat behind protective screens as part of preventative measures at the offices of Hyundai Card credit card company that has implemented reduced working hours and staggered lunch breaks, while South Korea has seen a continued decline in new virus cases. Ed Jones/ AFP

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  A visitor walks through a field of tulips and rapeseed flowers on Jeju Island, South Korea, 09 April 2020. South Korea on 08 April carried out the destruction of one Jeju's most popular rapeseed flower fields to prevent tourists from flocking to the area amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic EPA

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  People are back on the streets, albeit with masks to protect themselves. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty

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  Gongpyeong road in downtown Daegu, some 300km southeast of Seoul, South Korea, 10 April, after the city reported zero new Covid-19 cases the day before. The city that has been the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the country is starting to show signs of returning to normal. EPA

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  Hongdae, an area of western Seoul popular for its vibrant, youthful atmosphere, South Korea, 10 April. EPA

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  Health workers disinfect a street to curb the spread of coronavirus, Daegu, South Korea, 11 April. EPA

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  Workers drive tractors to upend a rapeseed flower field in Busan, South Korea, 10 April. The flowers were destroyed to prevent tourists from flocking to the area. EPA