North Korea will shut down all roads and rail connections with South Korea on Wednesday as the North accelerates steps to fulfill its goal of a “blank wall” that separates the two. The Korean People’s Army (KPA) called it a ‘self-defense exercise’ citing ‘South Korea’s armed forces drills and what it characterized as the deployment of ‘nukes in the neighborhood.’
This step brings tensions to a new level, as the KPA pays much attention to the need for more drastic actions to protect the sovereignty. The declaration has been posted in the English-language state-run KCNA which is indicative of the current military environment on the Korean peninsula.
The closure, though, is mostly symbolic because these routes are not heavily traveled and have been severed step by step over the past several months: The change in attitude exemplifies North Korea’s growing belligerence to its South Neighbor. If you’d like some background information about the historical background, you might start reading about the Korean War overview.
Earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that he no longer has plans for the reunification of the two Koreas – a sharp change of course. In an SPA session in January 2009, he called for changes in the constitution which would delete references to the peaceful reunification with South Korea. As anticipated for this week, there are no changes in the constitution commenced in the session.
It has been postulated that Kim Jong Un may be expecting the outcome of the U.S. elections to determine further approaches to the relations with the South. For some analysts, transport connections might have been severed with an eye on these ongoing geopolitical considerations.
