In recent hours, the North Korean army has declared itself "completely ready" to act against South Korea. She was quick to prove it. This Tuesday morning, the liaison office between the two countries was destroyed, according to the South Korean Ministry of Unification. "North Korea blew up the Kaesong liaison office at 2:49 pm," he said in a line statement.
It is an extremely strong symbol. The North Korean city of Kaesong, located just north of the DMZ (demilitarized zone, which serves as the inter-Korean border), has housed an inter-Korean liaison office since September 2018, at a time when relations were heating up.
This four-story building includes separate offices for the North and the South as well as a common conference room. No details were given on the potential damage caused by this "destruction".
An arm wrestling that never ceases to harden
The city of Kaesong is in the heart of a special economic zone where South Korean companies had established themselves. The involvement of the South Koreans in the Kaesong economic zone, however, ceased due to international sanctions against the North due to its military nuclear program.
In recent days, Kim Jong Un's very sister influence, Kim Yo Jong, had even threatened to definitively end economic projects between the two nations, including that of Kaesong.
Since the beginning of the month, Pyongyang has multiplied vitriolic attacks against its neighbor, in particular against North Korean defectors who, from the South, send propaganda leaflets to the North beyond the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). And last week, the North Korean regime announced the closure of its political and military communication channels with the South Korean "enemy".
The leaflets, which are often hung on balloons that fly to North Korean territory, or inserted in bottles launched into the border river, generally contain criticisms of Kim Jong Un's balance sheet in terms of human rights. Man, or his nuclear ambitions.
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Some experts believe that Pyongyang seeks to provoke a crisis with Seoul at the time when the nuclear negotiations with Washington are stopped.
Towards reoccupying demilitarized zones?
Acknowledging the deterioration in inter-Korean relations, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said on Tuesday that it was working on an "action plan" to "transform the front line into a fortress", according to l North Korean official agency KCNA.
This would include reoccupying areas that were demilitarized under an inter-Korean agreement, he said. South Korean media suspect that this could mean the relocation of guard posts that the two neighbors decided to withdraw in 2018 to ease tensions.
The North Korean military is also planning to send "large-scale" leaflets south, the statement said. Monday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a great architect of the 2018 rapprochement, had urged the North not to let "the window of dialogue close".
Since the protests in the North against the sending of leaflets from the South, Seoul has launched legal proceedings against two groups of North Korean dissidents accused of having sent these pieces of propaganda across the border.
The Korean War (1950-1953) was punctuated by an armistice, not by a peace agreement, which means that the two neighbors are technically still in a state of war.