DPRK confirms complete block of road, railway connections to S. Korea

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Thursday that the roads and railways connecting South Korea in the eastern and western parts of the DPRK southern border have been completely blocked, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"Under an order of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) on Oct. 15th took a measure to physically cut off the DPRK's roads and railways which lead to the ROK through the east and west sections of the southern border of the DPRK as part of the phased complete separation of its territory, where its sovereignty is exercised, from the ROK's territory," the KCNA said, referring to South Korea by using the acronym of its official name, the Republic of Korea.

"In the daytime of October 15th, the 60-metre-long sections of the roads and railways in Kamho-ri, Kosong County, Kangwon Province and the 60-metre-long sections of the roads and railways in Tongnae-ri, Panmun District, Kaesong Municipality have been completely blocked through blasting," a spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of National Defence was quoted by the KCNA as saying.

"This is an inevitable and legitimate measure taken in keeping with the requirement of the DPRK Constitution which clearly defines the ROK as a hostile state, and due to the serious security circumstances running to the unpredictable brink of war owing to the grave political and military provocations of the hostile forces," according to the KCNA report.

A spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of Land and Environment Protection confirmed that the blasting had no negative effect on the surrounding ecological environment and that the routes linking the DPRK to the ROK have been completely separated, the KCNA said.

The Ministry of National Defence said that the DPRK will continue to take measures to "permanently fortify the closed southern border", the KCNA added.

The KPA General Staff said on Oct. 9 that the DPRK will completely cut off roads and railways connecting South Korea amid the precarious situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to a previous KCNA report.