North Korea cuts power lines at border with South Korea
North Korea has cut power lines installed by South Korea to supply electricity to the now-shuttered joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
That is according to Yonhap, citing South Korean military sources and reported by Ukrinform.
The South Korean military has detected that North Korean soldiers began removing part of the power lines connecting transmission towers built along the Gyeongui road on Sunday. However, the disused towers themselves remain intact.
South Korea built 48 transmission towers – including 15 located in the North – to supply electricity to the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex. But power supply has been halted since June 2020, when North Korea demolished the inter-Korean liaison office located in the complex.
As reported by Ukrinform, in October, North Korea detonated sections of roads connecting it with South Korea, specifically the Gyeongui and Donghae routes north of the military demarcation line.
Previously, North Korea removed streetlights, planted mines along the Gyeongui and Donghae roads, and stationed troops within its side of the demilitarized zone.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea reported that this month, North Korea erected 11-meter-high earthen embankments and anti-tank trenches to completely block the roads it had destroyed in October, cutting further ties between the two Koreas.