Korea Tensions Soar as North Primes Troops, Weighs Cutting Roads

(Bloomberg) -- Tensions on the Korean Peninsula rose again after North Korea ordered troops along its southern border to be ready to fire and military leaders in Seoul said Pyongyang may be preparing to blow up roads connecting the two nations.

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South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected efforts under way in North Korea to destroy the eastern and western roads connecting the two nations, warning that an explosion could take place as early as Monday.

That followed North Korea’s announcement last week that it will “completely separate” its territory from the South, blaming Seoul’s joint drills with the US and the deployment of US strategic assets in the region for exacerbating tensions. Kim Jong Un’s regime also accused Seoul of sending drones toward Pyongyang in what it called a “war provocation.”

“North Korea has frequently created an atmosphere of crisis in inter-Korean relations when they needed to,” Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said when asked about the latest developments. Seoul officials have previously warned that North Korea may be considering a nuclear test closer to the US presidential election.

South Korea’s JCS said it is monitoring North Korea’s activities and is ready to counter any provocations. It has declined to say whether it sent drones across the border but it blames Pyongyang for the current crisis, criticizing North Korea’s repeated deployment of thousands of balloons filled with trash and other debris toward the south.

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“The cause of this whole situation lies in North Korea’s trash balloons,” the JCS said in a statement. “We strongly warn North Korea to halt sending the filthy and vulgar trash balloons.”

North Korea has sent the trash-filled balloons across the border since late May in a show of anger at South Korea’s joint military drills with the US and other actions which Pyongyang said represent a threat to its sovereignty. The balloons have been a recurring nuisance for Seoul and surrounding areas, with some causing fires.

South Korea has also found some of the balloons to be carrying GPS transmitters, in a possible bid by Pyongyang to enhance the precision of efforts to dump trash and gather data, South Korea’s defense ministry said Monday.

For its part, North Korea’s defense ministry has said that the “infiltration of drones” above its territory “constitutes an undeniable war provocation” by Seoul, adding that it would take action against any further incursions. As part of that response, the military directed artillery units to “get fully ready to open fire” for an immediate strike if necessary.

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Kim’s regime has stepped up its defiance of the US and its allies in recent years. Washington has accused North Korea of bolstering Russia’s war in Ukraine by supplying Moscow with millions of rounds of artillery and ammunition, charges Pyongyang denies.

Last month, North Korea released its first photos of a facility to enrich uranium for atomic bombs, showing Kim touring a plant at the center of a program that has been a point of friction with the US for more than 20 years.

If it happens, the destruction of the roads connecting North and South Korea, which never signed a peace agreement when their 1950-1953 conflict ended, would not be the first time Pyongyang razed symbols of rapprochement. In 2020, North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in what appeared to be an attempt to draw maximum global attention with little immediate risk of war.

--With assistance from Sam Kim.

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