North Korea said it would permanently seal its border with South Korea and cut off all roads and railways linking the neighboring countries but stopped short, for now, of formally declaring Seoul its chief enemy.
Pyongyang would “permanently shut off and block the southern border”, the official KCNA news agency reported, adding it would “fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures”.
The military called it a “self-defensive measure for inhibiting war and defending the security” of North Korea as “the hostile forces are getting ever more reckless in their confrontational hysteria”.
It was unclear how the decision would impact relations with South Korea
The decision came as the North’s parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, convened this week to announce key decisions. It was expected to formally change the country’s constitution to declare South Korea its “invariable principal enemy”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared South Korea “No. 1 enemy” early this year and said Pyongyang would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with it.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they would not tolerate any attempt by the North to change the status quo on the border.
The South would “overwhelmingly punish” the North if it launched any provocation, it said in a statement.
