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North Korea's army said Wednesday it was moving to "permanently shut off and block the southern border" with Seoul and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.

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Agence France-Presse

<div><br/></div><p>North Korea&#x27;s army said Wednesday it was moving to &quot;permanently shut off and block the southern border&quot; with Seoul and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">In a statement, Pyongyang said it would &quot;cut off roads and railways&quot; that might have someday facilitated travel between the two Koreas.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">While North Korea on Wednesday described the move as a &quot;major military step&quot;, an analyst suggested it was likely the continuation of a process long under way.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang shuttering agencies dedicated to reunification and declaring South Korea its &quot;principal enemy&quot;. </p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/9/10/north-korea-s-kim-vows-to-increase-nuclear-weapons-arsenal-1205">North Korea&#x27;s Kim vows to increase nuclear weapons arsenal</a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The nuclear-armed country had been expected to scrap a landmark inter-Korean agreement signed in 1991 at a key parliamentary meeting that ended Tuesday, part of leader Kim Jong Un&#x27;s drive to officially define the South as an enemy state.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">But in a Wednesday report that revealed the naming of a new defense chief, official state media made no mention of the pact being ended.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Hours later, however, the army said it planned &quot;a substantial military step&quot; that would &quot;completely cut off roads and railways connected to the ROK (South Korea) and fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures.&quot;</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">It added it had sent a telephone message to US forces Wednesday morning to &quot;prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict over the fortification project to be launched in the acute southern border area&quot;.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/6/10/north-korea-resumes-sending-trash-balloons-to-south-korea-1627">North Korea resumes sending trash balloons to South Korea</a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">While the border is one of the most heavily militarized in the world, it failed to prevent a North Korean from crossing it to the South in August.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Seoul said in July that Pyongyang had spent months laying landmines and erecting barriers while turning the area into a wasteland along the heavily fortified border.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">In June, the South Korean military said North Korean soldiers tasked with reinforcing the border had suffered &quot;multiple casualties&quot; from landmine explosion incidents.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">That same month, Seoul&#x27;s spy agency said it had detected signs that North Korea was demolishing sections of a railway line connecting the two Koreas.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">&quot;North Korea has already been demolishing parts of the Donghae Line railway, seemingly with the intention of completely severing its connection to the South,&quot; Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP, calling its latest statement &quot;official confirmation&quot;.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The North Korean army said Wednesday its decision was a &quot;self-defensive measure&quot; in response to South Korean &quot;war exercises&quot; and visits by US strategic nuclear assets.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">While no constitutional revisions involving Seoul were reported at this week&#x27;s meeting, Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea could be waiting for the results of next month&#x27;s US election before making a move.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Pyongyang on Wednesday also named No Kwang Chol as its new defense minister, replacing Kang Sun Nam.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;-webkit- text-size-adjust:100%;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The announcement of No&#x27;s appointment comes a day after Seoul&#x27;s defense chief said North Korean soldiers were likely fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian troops, with some believed to have already been killed and more expected to be deployed.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/7/marcos-tells-south-korea-s-yoon-time-to-elevate-ties-to-strategic-partnership-1143">Marcos tells South Korea’s Yoon: Time to elevate ties to strategic partnership</a></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>North Korea's army said Wednesday it was moving to "permanently shut off and block the southern border" with Seoul and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.</p>

Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea

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Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea

Agence France-Presse

Published Oct 09, 2024 02:46 PM PHT

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