In a gesture both literal and symbolic, North Korea on Tuesday blew up a joint liaison office with South Korea to dramatize crumbling bilateral relations, in what Pyongyang described as a “terrific explosion” at the North Korean border town of Kaesong.
On Wednesday, the North took further disdainful gestures against symbols of a tension-reduction deal, saying it would redeploy troops to now-shuttered inter-Korean tourism and economic sites near the border.
The dramatic demolition of the liaison building, which did not have any South Koreans working in it at the time, comes amid increasingly strained diplomacy and belligerent rhetoric from North Korea aimed at its southern neighbor and at Washington.
The building has been evacuated and closed since late January because of the COVID-19 outbreak, but South Korean President Moon Jae-in has appealed to the North in recent days to resume a policy of detente on the divided peninsula.
But North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said the demolition reflected “the mindset of the enraged people to surely 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, to Pyongyang’s increasing ire.
South Korea’s executive Blue House quickly condemned the move and said in a statement that it would “respond strongly” if Pyongyang “continues to worsen the situation.”
The Moon administration 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,” adding that “all responsibility of this situation lies in the North.”
The targets of Wednesday’s troop movements are the former sites of the Diamond tourism project and the Kaesong industrial complex, both of which have been shuttered for years over the nuclear stalemate between the Koreas, the U.S. and their allies.
Footage from South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense capturing the detonation of the liaison office, and smoke could later be seen rising from a complex of buildings where the office was located.
South Korea in 2018 contributed approximately $8.6 million to renovations for the building, at a time when both Mr. Moon and President Trump were reaching out to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in hopes of curbing the North’s growing nuclear and conventional military arsenals.
So far, the outreach has yet to result in the comprehensive denuclearization deal Mr. Trump had sought.
At a briefing Tuesday, South Korea’s deputy national security adviser Kim You-geun told reporters that the demolition “broke the expectations of all people who hope for the development of inter-Korean relations and lasting peace on the peninsula.”
The country’s vice minister has since dubbed the North’s move a “nonsensical act” and “unprecedented in inter-Korean relations.”
The U.S. government had a low-key reaction to the move, which has followed a string of critical comments about American policy by top North Korean officials.
A spokesperson for the State Department told reporters that the U.S. “fully supports” Seoul in its “efforts on inter-Korean relations and urges [North Korea] to refrain from further counterproductive actions.”
Analysts last week warned of a potential wave of provocations from Pyongyang after North Korea said it was freezing all communication channels with South Korea and vowed to treat Seoul as an “enemy.”
Some North Korea watchers tie the new hostile tone to the rise of Mr. Kim’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. 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.
North Korea complains that Mr. Trump’s diplomacy — which included three unprecedented personal meetings with Mr. Kim since June 2018 — have not resulted in the lifting of crippling economic sanctions. Pyongyang, isolated internationally, typically turns to military aggression as a way to force concessions from its neighbors.
Mr. 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 service reports.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.