Fury after North Korea blows up liaison office

NORTH Korea has blown up an inter-Korean liaison office building just north of the heavily armed border with South Korea. The dramatic display of anger sharply raises tensions on the Korean peninsula and puts pressure on Washington and Seoul amid deadlocked nuclear diplomacy.

The demolition of the building, which is on North Korean territory and had no South Koreans working there, is largely symbolic, but it is probably Pyongyang’s most provocative action since it entered nuclear diplomacy in 2018 after a US-North Korean stand-off had many fearing war.

It is a serious setback to the efforts of liberal South Korean president Moon Jae-in to restore inter-Korean engagement.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said the nation destroyed the office in a “terrific explosion” because its “enraged people” were determined to “force [the] human scum and those, who have sheltered the scum, to pay dearly for their crimes”, apparently referring to North Korean defectors who for years have floated anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

The agency did not detail how the office in the border town of Kaesong was destroyed.

Seoul expressed “strong regret” over the destruction and warned of a stern response if North Korea takes additional steps that aggravate tensions.

The statement, issued following an emergency National Security Council meeting, said the demolition was “an act that betrays hopes for an improvement in South-North Korean relations and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula”.