South Korea condemns Pyongyang's move to cut off road, rail links

ANKARA

South Korea on Thursday strongly condemned a move by North Korea to cut off all road and railway connections with Seoul amid tensions on the peninsula.

The South Korean Unification Ministry said Pyongyang gave Seoul no advance notice on the measure, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We strongly condemn North Korea's measure as an anti-unification and anti-national act that spurns aspiration for unification by our people and residents in North Korea," the ministry said.

On Wednesday, the General Staff of North Korea's army said it would cut off roads and railway links with South Korea in response to war exercises in the south and frequent visits by US strategic nuclear assets in the region.

“The hostile forces are getting ever more reckless in their confrontational hysteria, openly revealing their scheme to use armed forces in violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK (North Korea). This pushes the grave security situation of the Korean peninsula to a more unpredictable phase,” North Korea military said in a statement.

It said Pyongyang was completely cutting off roads and railways connected to South Korea and fortifying areas on the northern side.


The two countries have roads and railway connection along the Gyeongui line, which connects the South's western border city of Paju to the North's Kaesong, and the Donghae line along the east coast, according to the agency.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been on the rise in recent months after joint military exercises by South Korea and the US, as well as and missile launches by North Korea.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid