Pyongyang blows up inter-Korean joint liaison office

Seoul: North Korea blew up the inter-Korean joint liaison office in its border town of Kaesong on Tuesday, sharply escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula after near-daily threats against Seoul over anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets.

The surprise move sparked concern that the communist nation could put other threats against the South into action, including taking military action and moving troops to border regions disarmed under inter-Korean agreements, reports Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea's state media confirmed that the liaison office was "completely ruined".

"The relevant field of North Korea put into practice the measure of completely destroying the North-South joint liaison office in the Kaesong Industrial Zone in the wake of cutting off all the communication liaison lines between the north and the south," Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report.

The two Koreas launched the liaison office in September 2018 to facilitate inter-Korean exchange and cooperation amid a reconciliatory mood created by summit talks between their leaders.

The office suspended its operations in early January due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

The destruction was in line with "the mindset of the enraged people to surely force human scum and those, who have sheltered the scum, to pay dearly for their crimes", KCNA said, referring to North Korean defectors in the South sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets.

"At 2.50 pm, the liaison office was tragically ruined with a terrific explosion," it said.

Earlier, witnesses and sources said smoke was seen and an explosion was heard from the border town, with residents in South Korea's northernmost village of Daeseong-dong saying that dark smoke began billowing with a bang sound, according to the Yonhap News Agency report. (IANS)

The office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the destruction. (IANS)

Also watch: Evening Bulletin | 16th June, 2020