Tourists visit the Dorasan station in the Civilian Control area near the demilitarized zone in Paju, South Korea, on September 13, 2017. North Korea has been taken actions to sever connections with South Korea, including dismantling a key railway bridge along the line. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
North Korea has reportedly been active around the Kaesong Industrial Complex, dismantling a key railway bridge and planting landmines along the Gyeongui Line, South Korean officials said, as Pyongyang continues to sever relations with Seoul.
Citing recent satellite imagery, a South Korean Ministry of Unification official said Wednesday that “North Korea had demolished the railway bridge across the Sichuan River in the northern section of the Gyeongui Line Railway.” Advertisement
The images, which were provided late last month by private satellite company Airbus and analyzed by the Unification Ministry, show most of the iron bridge, heading toward Panmun Station near the Kaesong Industrial Complex, has been reduced to only pillars. In February, the bridge appeared in satellite imagery fully intact.
Meanwhile, lines of landmines have been buried along Gyeongui Line.
A South Korean military official had confirmed the development late last month, again citing satellite imagery provided by Airbus that shows eight sections of suspected landmines along the Gyeongui Line, which connects the two Koreas.
North Korea has been observed dismantling the railway for months, as Pyongyang is severing physical and symbolic connections between the two countries. Advertisement
Once considered a symbol inter-Korea cooperation, the Kaesong Industrial Complex has been shuttered since 2016 as relations between Seoul and Pyongyang frayed.
Relations between the two countries have only worsened since the 2019 Hanoi summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then U.S. President Donald Trump failed to produce tangible outcomes.
Early this year, Kim announced that unification was no longer a goal and that South Korea was now the “principal enemy.”
The activity surrounding the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the dismantling of the railways connecting the two countries is seen as a continuation of the North’s severing of relations with the South. It also comes ahead of the Supreme People’s Assembly session on Monday, when Seoul Unification Ministry officials have said Pyongyang may revoke the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement, which has dictated inter-Korean relations for the past three decades.
“It seems inevitable that [Kim]’s declaration of two hostile states will logically lead to the rejection of the existing Inter-Korean Basic Agreement,” a senior Unification Ministry official told reporters on Wednesday.
“The likelihood of terminating the agreement now seems quite high.”
The ministry official continued that Pyongyang may also enshrine within its constitution the severing of relations and the rejection of unification. Advertisement
“North Korea’s potential constitutional amendments may involve the removal of references to reunification and fellow countrymen, the introduction of territorial clauses, provisions for territorial expansion during wartime and the inclusion of education on the No. 1 hostile country,” the official said.
