North Korea blows up South Korea joint office in rebuke of Seoul
(Japan Times) – North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office on its side of the border, in an explosive rebuke to Seoul that appeared designed to draw maximum global attention with little immediate risk of war.
The move represented North Korea’s most serious provocation in years and follows an escalating series of threats against South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s government.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a statement that the office — the most concrete achievement from series of summits between the two Koreas in 2018 was — was “tragically ruined with a terrific explosion.”
In Seoul, Moon convened his top security advisers and put the country’s military on higher alert. South Korea’s presidential office said later that it will respond sternly if North Korea continues to raise tensions.
The destruction of the office “broke the expectations of all people who hope for the development of inter-Korean relations and lasting peace on the peninsula,” deputy national security adviser Kim You-geun told a briefing.
“We’re making clear that the North is entirely responsible for all the consequences this might cause,” he said.
South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who was at parliament when the explosion occurred across the border, said the move had been “expected.”
The destruction of the building comes about a week after Kim Jong Un’s regime abandoned its operations at the South Korea-funded facility, which allowed officials from both sides to communicate around the clock. North Korea has been seeking to raise pressure on Moon in frustration over Seoul’s continued support for the U.S.-led sanctions campaign that’s hobbled its economy.
While it wasn’t immediately clear how the allies would react, Kim’s target seemed chosen to embarrass Moon without provoking a military response from South Korea or U.S. President Donald Trump. Moon has spent much of his presidency seeking better ties with Pyongyang, sometimes putting himself at odds with more hawkish voices in the Trump administration.
“We can expect Pyongyang will continue with similar military acts, but not enough that would force Seoul to retaliate in kind with force,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser for Northeast Asia and Nuclear Policy at the International Crisis Group. “We should remember that the liaison office was essentially already dead, so, if there’s a real problem, then it’s for South Korean taxpayers.”
The incident was among the most serious provocations since 2010, when North Korea was suspected of torpedoing a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors, and a few months later shelling a South Korean island, killing two soldiers and two civilians. The attacks threatened to spill into open fighting, but tensions were defused amid concerns about the devastation from another war.
