SEOUL: North Korea has blown up sections of an inter-Korean road on its side of the heavily militarised border between the two Koreas, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday.
At around midday, some parts of the road north of the military demarcation line dividing the countries were blown up, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message sent to media.
South Korea’s military had ramped up surveillance and its readiness in response, it said. Seoul had warned on Monday that Pyongyang was getting ready to blow up the roads.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been increasing amid an escalating war of words after the North accused its rival of sending drones over the country’s capital Pyongyang.
North Korea on Friday said the drones had scattered a “huge number” of anti-North leaflets over the city, in what it called political and military provocation that could lead to armed conflict.
A spokesman for the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff declined on Monday to answer questions over whether the South Korean military or civilians had flown the alleged drones.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had overseen on Monday a meeting with defense and security officials to discuss how to respond to the “enemy’s serious provocation that violated the sovereignty of the DPRK,” state media KCNA reported. DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
North Korea blows up parts of inter-Korean road on its side of border, Seoul says
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North Korea blows up parts of inter-Korean road on its side of border, Seoul says
- South Korea’s military had ramped up surveillance and its readiness in response
North Korea and China to resume passenger train service after six-year gap
- China’s railway authority said in a notice that Beijing-Pyongyang trains will operate four times a week
- The resumption from March 12 will “further promote China-North Korea travel, trade and economic cooperation”
SEOUL/BEIJING: Tickets for the first passenger train in six years from Beijing to North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, were sold out ahead of its March 12 departure, an official ticketing office in Beijing said on Tuesday.
The resumption of the rail service, suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, revives a critical transport link between the largely isolated North Korea and its primary economic ally.
Tickets for the journey — restricted to travelers holding business visas — were purchased by entrepreneurs, government officials and reporters, according to the Beijing ticketing office. Tickets were still available for the next service, scheduled for March 18.
NORTH KOREA STILL LARGELY CLOSED TO TOURISTS
China’s railway authority said in a notice that Beijing-Pyongyang trains will operate four times a week in both directions on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday while Dandong-Pyongyang trains will run daily.
The resumption from March 12 will “further promote China-North Korea travel, trade and economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual well-being and friendship,” the notice said.
North Korea remains closed to most foreign tourism, with limited exceptions largely for Russian tour groups under restricted arrangements, according to travel agencies organizing trips to the country.
Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors made up the largest share of foreign tourists to North Korea, the agencies said. Tour organizers said on Monday that North Korea had canceled next month’s Pyongyang Marathon for unspecified reasons. The race is one of the few events that has been open to international participants in the isolated state.
