North Korea has announced that it will sever all road and railway connections with South Korea starting Wednesday, in a bid to “completely separate” the two countries. The Korean People’s Army (KPA) described the move as a “self-defensive measure” aimed at preventing war, citing South Korea’s military exercises and the presence of U.S. nuclear assets in the region as provocation.
The closure of these links, announced through state media outlet KCNA, is largely symbolic. Roads and railways between North and South Korea have seen minimal use and have been progressively dismantled by North Korean authorities over the past year. Still, the action underscores the deteriorating relations between the two Koreas, which have worsened following a series of missile tests, inflammatory rhetoric, and provocations from Pyongyang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, earlier this year, signaled a major shift in the regime’s approach to the South. In a January meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), Kim suggested revising the country’s constitution to remove references to peaceful reunification, indicating an end to his aspirations for reunification. However, while many anticipated that these changes would be formalized during this week’s SPA session, no such amendments were publicly announced.
An expert from the Korea Institute for National Unification speculated that North Korea might be waiting for the outcome of the upcoming U.S. elections before making any decisive constitutional changes. Hong Min, speaking to AFP, suggested that Pyongyang could “consider adjusting the extent of constitutional revisions to align with the direction of the new (U.S.) administration.”
