In a surprising escalation of tensions between Pyongyang, North Korea and Seoul, South Korea, the northern country has blown up a joint liaison office near the border. The two Koreas used the liaison office for peace talks that had been under way since 2018. However, due to recent tensions between the two nations, the totalitarian North Korean government has begun militarizing anew.
The liaison building was located in the town of Kaesong, on the North Korean side of the border. North Korean state media confirmed the destruction of the building at 2:50 PM local time. Experts on Korean studies have noted that this move was likely calculated to draw maximum news coverage while also avoiding open conflict.
The liaison building had gone unused recently due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. A group of South Korean activists had recently used balloons to fly anti-Kim Jong-un propaganda across the border. and officials in the South Korean government confirmed that they had expected a move like this. The purely symbolic destruction of a now-unused liaison office close to the border grabs attention. However, it threatens no lives and it doesn’t come across as a threat of future violence.
That being said, the move was a surprising escalation to the rest of the world. This marks the highest alert between the two nations since 2010, when a North Korean torpedo killed several South Korean sailors. Those tensions nearly escalated into full-blown war before being averted over fears of widespread devastation.
A representative from South Korea’s Blue House noted “an act of betrayal of the expectations of all who wish for the improvement of the inter-Korean relations and settlement of peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
Tensions between South Korea and North Korea have stayed high since the end of the Korean War in 1953. An uneasy peace has remained in the region for the intervening 70 years. The region has served as something of a microcosm of larger global tensions throughout the decades. The South has a democratic government and a capitalist market and is backed by the US. South Korean trade with the US is strong, as South Korean is home to Samsung and Kia, the company known for making the best SUV for mileage.
The North, on the other hand, is under a totalitarian government. State propaganda is the only legal form of media for the citizens to consume. The country’s economy is centrally-planned and is referred to as a “command economy”. It is backed by China, though the two have been less enthusiastic allies in recent years.
