Tensions prompted by defector groups in ROK scattering anti-Pyongyang leaflets

Amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Tuesday blew up its joint liaison office with the Republic of Korea near the border town of Kaesong, bringing more uncertainties to the already deadlocked inter-Korean diplomacy.

According to Seoul's Unification Ministry, the inter-Korean liaison office building located inside the DPRK's border was demolished at 2:49 pm local time.

In a later report, the DPRK's Korean Central News Agency confirmed the news, saying the liaison office, which had been closed since January over fears of the novel coronavirus, was "ruined with a terrific explosion".

Photos from the ROK's Yonhap News Agency showed smoke rising from what appeared to be a complex of buildings. The agency said the area was part of a now-shuttered industrial park where the liaison office was located.

The move came hours after Pyongyang indicated there would be possible military action against the ROK, as the KCNA said in a report on Tuesday that the country's army is "fully ready" to take action against any "enemy".

"The Korean People's Army is studying an action plan for taking measures to make the army advance again into the zones that had been demilitarized under the North-South agreement, turn the front line into a fortress and further heighten the military vigilance against the South," the report said.

Commenting on the renewed tensions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday that the people of the DPRK and the ROK are of the same ethnic origin and that China, as a close neighbor, always hopes to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula.

Tensions between the two neighbors have been escalating for weeks, prompted by defector groups in the ROK scattering anti-DPRK propaganda leaflets across the border.

The office, when it was operating, served as an embassy for the neighbors and its destruction means a major setback for inter-Korean ties.

The DPRK had earlier threatened to demolish the office as it stepped up its rhetoric over Seoul's failure to put a stop to the leaflets being scattered across the border. Analysts say Pyongyang is expressing its frustration because Seoul is unable to resume joint economic projects due to US-led sanctions.

On Saturday night, Kim Yo-jong, sister of the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-un, had warned that Seoul will soon witness "a tragic scene of the useless liaison office being completely collapsed". She also said she would leave to the DPRK's military the right to take the next step of retaliation against its "enemy".

'Round-the-clock channel'

Wang Junsheng, a researcher at the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the neighbors opened the liaison office to facilitate better communication and exchanges after an agreement between Kim Jong-un and ROK President Moon Jae-in signed at their first summit in 2018.

"The liaison office was a symbol of the then-flourishing inter-Korean relations, as it was the first permanent physical communication center for the two sides, with personnel from both countries staying at the compound to enable face-to-face contact at any time," Wang said.

During the thaw in relations, Seoul's Unification Ministry said the office would become a "round-the-clock consultation and communication channel" for advancing inter-Korean relations, improving ties between the United States and the DPRK, and easing military tensions.

But inter-Korean relations have come under increasing strain since the breakdown of the second summit between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in Vietnam in early 2019.

"Recent tensions, for example, the cross-border leaflets incident, not only anger the DPRK but also make it disappointed at its neighbor the ROK as it thinks the ROK has not substantially helped improve inter-Korean relations," Wang said.

"Further, promises by the ROK government to help improve DPRK-US relations are also seen as 'empty talk'. Thus the DPRK destroyed the merely-a-symbol liaison office to show its discontent with its neighbor."

Xinhua, agencies and Zhou Jin in Beijing contributed to this story.