Seoul, June 30
North Korea has informed the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) of its plans to build fortifications inside the border between the two Koreas, Seoul's Defence Ministry said on Monday, marking the first notification of its kind in more than six months.
The North notified the multinational command tasked with monitoring inter-Korean border activities on Wednesday that it would resume construction of barriers and barbed wire fences on its side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), according to a local newspaper.
When asked about the report, a ministry official confirmed the notification did take place, while a UNC official declined to comment about its communication with the North Korean military, reported news agency.
Since April last year, North Korea has deployed troops near the military demarcation line (MDL) within the DMZ to plant mines, erect anti-tank barriers, and reinforce barbed wire fences after the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, described inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other" in late 2023.
Last October, North Korea announced that it had informed the UNC it would cut off all roads and railways connected to South Korea and build defence structures before blowing up cross-border roads once seen as symbols of inter-Korean reconciliation.