North Korea Army says to completely cut road and rail links to South Korea

SEOUL: North Korea’s military said it will cut off all roads and railways connected to South Korea starting Wednesday and build “strong defence structures” in the areas in response to South Korea-US military manoeuvres, reported Yonhap new agency.

“A project will be launched on October 9 to completely cut off roads and railways connected to South Korea” and “fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defence structures,“ the general staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a report carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

“For our army to permanently shut off and block the southern border with the ROK (Republic of Korea) in the current situation is a self-defensive measure for inhibiting war and defending the security of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea),“ it said.

North Korea said it is taking a “more resolute and stronger measure” in response to the “acute military situation” on the Korean Peninsula, citing South Korean military exercises near the border and visits by US strategic nuclear assets to the region.

North Korea’s military said it sent a telephone message to the US military in South Korea at 9.45 am to “prevent any misjudgement and accidental conflict over the fortification project”.

The announcement came amid ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the North has sent trash-carrying balloons toward the South and publicly disclosed a uranium enrichment facility for the first time.

The US stations some 28,000 troops in South Korea to deter North Korean aggression, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.