Political settlement of peninsula issue urged

China has taken note of the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and urged relevant parties to work actively for a political settlement of the issue, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday.

"As a close neighbor of the Korean Peninsula, China is closely monitoring the developments of the situation on the peninsula and the relations between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea," Mao said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

The ROK's joint chiefs of staff said its military fired shots within southern limits of the inter-Korean border as it bolstered its readiness and surveillance posture, as the ROK issued a statement saying that the DPRK blew up parts of inter-Korean roads in the north.

The statement said the DPRK military carried out detonations around noon, purportedly with the objective of blocking roads on the DPRK side of the western Gyeongui and the eastern Donghae lines, north of the military demarcation line.

On Oct 9, the general staff of the Korean People's Army said the DPRK would completely cut off road and railway links to the ROK and fortify relevant areas on its side with strong defense structures.

Mao, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said that tensions on the peninsula do not serve the common interests of the parties concerned and the top priority is to avoid further escalation of the situation.

"China's position of being committed to safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula and promoting a political settlement has not changed," she said.

After Tuesday's demolitions, a video released by the ROK military showed an explosion and a plume of smoke rising above an area of road where the DPRK had put up a black barrier.

The cross-border roads and railways are remnants of rapprochement that included a 2018 summit.

Tensions mounted after the DPRK last week accused the ROK of sending drones over its capital Pyongyang. It said the drones scattered a "huge number" of anti-DPRK leaflets, and warned that Seoul would "pay a dear price" for this.

The DPRK has "secured clear evidence" showing that the ROK military is the "main culprit" of the hostile provocation of violating the DPRK's sovereignty by intruding into the sky over its capital, said Kim Yo-jong, vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The ROK government has declined to say whether its military or civilians had flown the alleged drones.

The government of the ROK's Gyeonggi Province, bordering the DPRK, said on Tuesday that a special police force would be brought in to crack down on the practice of flying anti-DPRK leaflets from some border areas.

The ROK's constitutional court overturned a ban on such practice last year.