North Korea has mined border crossings on its side of the demilitarized zone, the South's military said this week, in another sign of increasing tensions between the old Cold War foes.
South Korea's spotters first noticed anti-tank and anti-personnel mines being laid at sites within the DMZ several months ago, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff. These locations included on either end of the unofficial border where leaders on both sides had previously hoped to build modern railway routes to cement warming ties.
The DMZ is a heavily militarized strip of land that divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half along the 38th Parallel north. The 2.5-mile wide, 160-mile long buffer zone was established north and south of the demarcation line under the 1953 armistice that ended the three-year Korean War.
The U.S.-led United Nations Command has maintained a presence in the South for over 70 years to deter further aggression from the North, which observers believe to be likely this year as the United States holds its November presidential election.
Late last year, North Korea's troops mined an unpaved road near Arrowhead Hill, roughly 50 miles northeast of Seoul, according to the South's Yonhap news agency.
Also known as Hill 281, the area previously saw intense fighting between opposing forces and was among the sites selected for a joint remains recovery project as part of a 2018 inter-Korean peace deal. Nuclear-armed North Korea quit the pact last fall after the South partially suspended cooperation under the accord in response to Pyongyang placing its first spy satellite into orbit.
Kim Jong Un's regime also has mined land routes on the Gyeongui road in the west, connecting the cities of Paju in the South and Kaesong in the North, and has done the same on the Donghae road along the east coast.
The cross-border sites—first opened in 2004 and 2005, respectively—were once targeted for modern train lines to further economic integration before the collapse of the 2018 agreement.
Earlier this month, South Korean officials said the North had removed streetlights along both roads in March and was also rebuilding guard posts within the DMZ.
Colonel Lee Sung-jun, a spokesperson for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that Seoul was taking measures in response to Pyongyang's fortifications, but ruled out mining roads in the South, Yonhap reported.
North Korea's embassy in Beijing did not answer calls seeking comment.
Inter-Korean relations have deteriorated significantly following a record year of missile tests by the North and the South's renewed alignment with the U.S. and neighboring Japan.
Pyongyang's state-run media have doubled down on hardline rhetoric since Kim declared the South his country's "principal enemy" in January, signaling a potential end to any hopes of unification on the peninsula.
The North also has aligned more closely with China and especially Russia, allegedly trading arms with Moscow's forces and this week describing the U.S. decision to supply ATACMS ballistic missiles to Ukraine as "a mean policy."
Kim's series of moves continued this month with the dismantling of a building in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, 6 miles north of the DMZ and once a symbol of economic collaboration with the South, according to the Voice of America's Korean service.
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John Feng is Newsweek's contributing editor for Asia based in Taichung, Taiwan. His focus is on East Asian politics. He ... Read more
