North Korea destroys inter-Korean liaison office in 'terrific explosion'

By Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith

 

A smoke rises from Kaesong Industrial Complex in this picture taken from the south side in Paju, South Korea, June 16, 2020. Yonhap via REUTERS

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Tuesday blew up a joint liaison office set up in a border town in 2018 to foster better ties with South Korea after threatening action if defectors continued with a campaign of sending propaganda leaflets into the reclusive North.

 

The liaison office in Kaesong - a gleaming blue-glass four-storey structure in an otherwise drab industrial city - was "ruined with a terrific explosion," North Korea's state news agency KCNA said.

 

Destruction of the building, closed since January due to coronavirus fears, represented a major setback to South Korean President Moon Jae-in's efforts to coax North Korea into cooperation. It also appeared to be a further blow to U.S. President Donald Trump's hopes of persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and open up to the world.

 

The U.S. State Department said Washington fully supports Seoul's efforts on inter-Korean relations and urged Pyongyang to "refrain from further counterproductive actions."

 

North Korea last week warned Washington to refrain from commenting on inter-Korean affairs if it wanted the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election to go smoothly, raising concerns it could be contemplating a return to nuclear and long-range missile testing.

 

Trump has hailed Pyongyang's freeze in such testing as a victory in his unprecedented but otherwise fruitless meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019.

 

The State Department said Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, the top U.S. official dealing with North Korea, would travel with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Hawaii on Tuesday. Sources said Pompeo will met with China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Hawaii on Wednesday to discuss issues including North Korea.

 

China is North Korea's main ally and neighbour and shares U.S. concerns about Pyongyang's weapons programs. U.S. officials have stressed the need for Beijing to strictly enforce international sanctions on North Korea.

 

Russia expressed concern about the Korea situation, urging restraint from all sides.

 

Surveillance video from South Korea's defence ministry showed a large explosion that appeared to bring down the office building. It also appeared to cause a partial collapse of a neighbouring 15-storey block that had housed South Korean officials who had staffed the liaison office.

 

Jenny Town of 38 North, a think tank focusing on North Korea, saw the destruction of the office as part of Pyongyang's efforts to secure sanctions relief and shift attention from domestic hardships worsened by coronavirus containment steps.

 

Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia until early in Trump's administration, added, "Ramping up pressure through escalating provocations is how Kim makes the point that without sanctions relief, sooner or later he will also blow up Trump's claim to have 'ended the threat' from North Korea."

 

'ACTION PLAN'

The first diplomatic mission of its kind, the liaison office was established in 2018 as part of a series of projects aimed at reducing tensions between the two Koreas.

 

North Korea's media also quoted its military as saying it had been studying an "action plan" to re-enter zones that had been demilitarized under the 2018 inter-Korean pact and "turn the front line into a fortress".

 

South Korea's defence ministry urged North Korea to abide by the agreement, under which both sides vowed to cease "all hostile acts" and dismantled a number of structures along the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone between the countries.

 

South Korea's national security council said Seoul would respond sternly if North Korea continued to raise tensions.

 

Deputy national security advisor Kim You-geun said destruction of the Kaesong building "broke the expectations of all people who hope for the development of inter-Korean relations and lasting peace on the peninsula".

 

South Korean vice unification minister Suh Ho, who co-headed the office, called its demolition "unprecedented in inter-Korean relations" and a "nonsensical act".

 

Reclusive North Korea and democratic South Korea remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty.

 

Tensions have risen in recent days with North Korea threatening to cut ties and retaliate over the propaganda leaflets carrying messages critical of Kim Jong Un.

 

Referring to defectors, KCNA said the office was blown up to force "human scum and those who have sheltered the scum to pay dearly for their crimes".

 

Several defector-led groups have regularly sent flyers over the border, together with food, $1 bills, mini radios and USB sticks containing South Korean dramas and news, usually by balloon or in bottles by river.

 

The Kaesong building was originally used as offices in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a venture between the two Koreas suspended in 2016 amid disagreement over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

 

South Korea spent at least 9.78 billion won ($8.6 million) to renovate it in 2018. South Koreans worked on the second floor and North Koreans on the fourth floor. The third floor housed conference rooms for meetings between the two sides.

 

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin, Josh Smith, and Sangmi Cha in Seoul; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Alistair Bell)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-16

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

I doubt a Korean war would last very long these days nor the North Korean leader . Provided Russia and China stayed out of it .

Edited June 16, 20206 yr by keith101

Send in Aaron and Dave from Skylark tonight to investigate

Mr Kim needs some lockdown therapy and a big mac by the look of it ???? 

So, southern Korean groups send over balloons and bottles with money and memory sticks of South Korean dramas and the north responds by blowing up a building on its own territory?

 

 

To paraphrase star trek

 

”It’s war Jim, but not as we know it”

Edited June 16, 20206 yr by Bluespunk

1 hour ago, keith101 said:

I doubt a Korean war would last very long these days nor the North Korean leader . Provided Russia and China stayed out of it .

Kim has nukes and if cornered likely to use them which is why tin pot power hungry nut jobs like him should never be allowed them - we can thank Putin for that - giving them the ability

1 hour ago, keith101 said:

I doubt a Korean war would last very long these days nor the North Korean leader . Provided Russia and China stayed out of it .

I agree. Nuclear wars would tend to be short.

40 minutes ago, smedly said:

Kim has nukes and if cornered likely to use them which is why tin pot power hungry nut jobs like him should never be allowed them - we can thank Putin for that - giving them the ability

Actually, we can thank Pakistan for that. Back when it was reckoned to be a U.S. ally.

Pakistan helped North Korea make bomb

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/19/pakistan.northkorea

1 hour ago, smedly said:

Kim has nukes and if cornered likely to use them which is why tin pot power hungry nut jobs like him should never be allowed them - we can thank Putin for that - giving them the ability

They have every reason to have nukes the way the west has threatened them. Especially the current nut job in the US who could do anything at anytime.

 

I dont see north korea invading other countries.

The Little Rocketman stamping his feet: I'll Scream & Scream Until I'm Sick.

Yeah Kim!  That'll learn the world how cool you are.

 

... dumb <deleted>

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

The Little Rocketman stamping his feet: I'll Scream & Scream Until I'm Sick.

 

10 minutes ago, LeamchabangLarry said:

Yeah Kim!  That'll learn the world how cool you are.

 

... dumb <deleted>

It was more likely to be his sister.

3 hours ago, keith101 said:

I doubt a Korean war would last very long these days nor the North Korean leader . Provided Russia and China stayed out of it .

not even any need to surmise! - just look at the history books _????   

 - the russians did the flying, and the Chinese bulldozed one and all back over the border 

South Korea should use Kim's best friend and best deal maker to settle things down,

Who cares? Ignore North Korea. Whiny losers. We can render them impotent in two hours if needed.

20 minutes ago, Traubert said:

 

It was more likely to be his sister.

oof.  that is one cold bitch.  (I kinda like it)

Yeah, N. Korea reminds me of a guy with one bullet in his gun facing multiple opponents. It's all bluff and bluster till he fires that one bullet, then he's <deleted>. Of course, we have China in the background. No doubt, if N. Korea was attacked China would come to their aid, but if N. Korea did something really stupid, I'm not so sure. N. Korea pushes the bluff and bluster thing to its limits, but they're never gonna get really serious.

Oh dear; little Pig Face is all upset again and has thrown his dummy out of the pram because nobody is taking any notice of him !

3 minutes ago, trainman34014 said:

Oh dear; little Pig Face is all upset again and has thrown his dummy out of the pram because nobody is taking any notice of him !

Indeed. And I am one to simply ignore little children throwing temper tantrums. That said, the US has mistakenly paid attention to NoKo when they throw these tantrums.

Awwww I think little Kim is pineing for his Donald they are in love according to trump lol instead of a 100% maritime blockade and millions of thumb drives dropped into n Korea to get the n Korean people to displace this tyrant this is the result of trumps foreign policy pathetic 

4 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Mr Kim needs some lockdown therapy and a big mac by the look of it ???? 

Methinks looks like he’s had more Big Macs than a Scottish call girl.

The same day China kills 3 indian soldiers.  Coincidence or is there a sinister plan?

24 minutes ago, Tug said:

Awwww I think little Kim is pineing for his Donald they are in love according to trump lol instead of a 100% maritime blockade and millions of thumb drives dropped into n Korea to get the n Korean people to displace this tyrant this is the result of trumps foreign policy pathetic 

Maybe you're on to something. Do you suppose offering North Korea nuclear reactors might be a better foreign policy decision?

52 minutes ago, Crazy Alex said:

Maybe you're on to something. Do you suppose offering North Korea nuclear reactors might be a better foreign policy decision?

No as my post says a 100% maritime blockade millions of thumb drives dropped in country so the n Koreans know they have support if they get rid of Kim not shaking the enemy’s hand sucking up to and generally making an absolute fool of ones sielf,country,and squandering all the work of previous administrations so no don’t think giving the n Koreans reactors is a good idea

Opps! How unfortunate. Who cares!

1 hour ago, nausea said:

Yeah, N. Korea reminds me of a guy with one bullet in his gun facing multiple opponents. It's all bluff and bluster till he fires that one bullet, then he's <deleted>. Of course, we have China in the background. No doubt, if N. Korea was attacked China would come to their aid, but if N. Korea did something really stupid, I'm not so sure. N. Korea pushes the bluff and bluster thing to its limits, but they're never gonna get really serious.

Well, he's got more than one bullet and lots of them are nuclear tipped.

1 hour ago, Silent Number said:

Methinks looks like he’s had more Big Macs than a Scottish call girl.

In Mr Kim's defence he was aiming at Guam just before his delivery turned up????

5 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

So, southern Korean groups send over balloons and bottles with money and memory sticks of South Korean dramas and the north responds by blowing up a building on its own territory?

 

 

To paraphrase star trek

 

”It’s war Jim, but not as we know it”

May the force be with you. 

22 minutes ago, Shot said:

May the force be with you. 

You have just upset every Trekkie the world over...wrong franchise

12 hours ago, Mavideol said:

South Korea should use Kim's best friend and best deal maker to settle things down,

Roddy? ????