South Korea expects road links to be blown up by North Korea

The South Korean military sees signs that North Korea is preparing to blow up inter-Korean road connections. According to the Yonhap news agency, the spokesman for the General Staff said at a briefing in Seoul that North Korea had already installed appropriate shielding on the northern side of the border connections. It is said that the blasts could still be carried out today.

Last Wednesday, North Korea announced that it wanted to permanently interrupt all road and rail connections to South Korea. The steps are justified by protecting national security and preventing war. According to the South Korean military, North Korea has also laid tens of thousands of landmines along the border area in recent months.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have recently increased significantly. Last week, North Korea’s general staff announced . According to the South Korean military, North Korea has also laid tens of thousands of landmines along the border area in recent months.

South and North Korea are fighting over drones

Over the weekend, North Korea accused the South of sending unmanned drones carrying anti-North Korean leaflets to Pyongyang three times last week. On Sunday evening, the North Korean leadership announced that eight artillery brigades, which were already on wartime readiness, had been ordered to “fully prepare to open fire.” In addition, air surveillance over Pyongyang has been tightened.

Kim Jong Un’s influential sister warned Seoul: If a South Korean drone were to be discovered again in the airspace over the North Korean capital Pyongyang, it would “certainly lead to a terrible catastrophe,” said Kim Yo Jong.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun initially rejected the allegations. The South Korean General Staff later qualified the statement by saying that it “could not confirm whether the North Korean allegations are true or not.”

However, the North Korean allegations were “shameless,” Lee said. The North itself sent drones to the South ten times. Pyongyang had repeatedly sent thousands of balloons filled with garbage across the border into South Korea, disrupting air traffic there, causing fires and even hitting government buildings.

North Korea threatens to use nuclear weapons

The UN command that monitors the ceasefire between the two Koreas said it was investigating North Korea’s allegations about the South Korean drones. There had been speculation as to whether the drones carrying the leaflets had been launched by South Korean activists, as had previously been the case.

The two Koreas are technically still at war, as the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The relationship is currently extremely tense. North Korean leader Kim recently warned that his country would “without hesitation” use nuclear weapons if attacked by the South.

At the end of 2023, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un described inter-Korean relations as those between two warring states at a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party. He had also demanded that South Korea be designated as the main enemy in the country’s socialist constitution.