PYONGYANG DESTROYS INTER-KOREAN LIAISON OFFICE IN ‘TERRIFIC EXPLOSION’

SEOUL North Korea on Tuesday blew up a building set up in 2018 in a border town as a joint liaison office to foster better ties with South Korea after threatening action if North Korean defectors went ahead with a campaign sending propaganda leaflets into the North.

The liaison office in Kaesong — a gleaming blueglass, four-story structure in an otherwise drab industrial city — was “ruined with a terrific explosion,” North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said.

The destruction of the building, which had been closed since January due to the coronavirus fears, was a major setback to efforts by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to coax North Korea into co-operation.

Surveillance video released by South Korea’s defence ministry showed a large explosion that appeared to bring down the building. The explosion also appeared to cause a partial collapse of a neighbouring building that had served as a residential facility for South Korean officials.