North Korea on Tuesday blew up its joint liaison office with South Korea in what it has called a “terrific explosion” near the border town of Kaesong in the North’s territory.
The demolition of the building, which did not have any South Koreans working in it at the time, is largely symbolic but comes amid strained nuclear diplomacy with North Korea’s southern neighbor and the U.S.
The building has been evacuated and closed since late January because of concerns of the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said the building was destroyed because “enraged people” were going to “force human scum and those, who have sheltered the scum, to pay dearly for their crimes.” The statement appeared to reference North Korean defectors who have distributed anti-Pyongyang information across the border for years.
South Korea’s Blue House quickly condemned the North’s move and said in a statement that it would “respond strongly” if Pyongyang “continues to worsen the situation.”
It said the demolition of the office “abandons the hopes of everyone who wanted the development of inter-Korean relations and peace settlement in the Korean Peninsula.”
“The government makes it clear that all responsibility of this situation lies in the North,” the statement said.
Footage from South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense shows the moment when North Korea detonated the liaison office, and photos obtained by the South’s Yonhap news agency show smoke rising from a complex of buildings where the office was located.
Analysts last week warned of a potential wave of provocations from Pyongyang after
North Korea said it was freezing all communication channels and vowed to treat Seoul as an “enemy.”
The assertiveness could be tied to the rise of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, who has been increasingly visible in Pyongyang since Mr. Kim’s roughly monthlong disappearance from public view in April amid a suspected health scare.
Kim Yo-jong earlier this month threatened to permanently shut the now-destroyed liaison office established with Seoul that was long seen as a symbol of reconciliation between the two countries. South Korean officials say the North refused to answer a daily call on the countries’ joint military hotline last week for the first time in two years.
On Saturday, she warned that Seoul would soon witness “a tragic scene of the useless North-South liaison office [in North Korea] being completely collapsed.”
The latest series of events suggest that the Kim regime has lost its patience with Seoul to revive lucrative inter-Korean economic projects and to persuade the Trump administration to ease crippling sanctions on Pyongyang.
President Trump and Mr. Kim have not met in person since a brief visit by the U.S. leader to the Korean demilitarized zone nearly a year ago, and few expect a major diplomatic breakthrough before the U.S. elections in November.
• Guy Taylor contributed to this story, which is based in part on wire reports.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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