North Korea’s army on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, announced that it will take the “substantial military step” of completely cutting off its territory from South Korea on Wednesday, after months of fortifying its heavily armed border.

The announcement, which comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scrapped a longstanding policy of seeking peaceful reunification with South Korea earlier this year, declared that remaining roads and railways connected to the South would be completely cut, blocking access along the border.

It added that extensive fortification work would take place along the border.

The General Staff said that the measures were a response to recent “war exercises” held in South Korea and visits by what it claims are US strategic nuclear assets in the region. Over the past year, a US aircraft carrier, amphibious assault ships, long-range bombers and submarines have visited South Korea, drawing angry rebukes from Pyongyang.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with North Korea continuing a run of provocative weapons tests and South Korea and the U.S. expanding their military drills.

In its statement, the North Korean army said it notified US forces on Wednesday morning to prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict over its fortification project.

According to the South Korean military, Pyongyang has fortified its border defenses, laying land mines, building anti-tank traps and removing railway infrastructure since January.

A South Korean military official clarified that North Korea had not directly communicated any details to the South.

The official added that while North Korea has been dismantling sections of the Gyeongui and Donghae railway lines and installing defensive structures and landmines near the demilitarized zone, no further activities related to fortification have been detected following the latest declaration.

Professor Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University noted in an interview that North Korea’s decision to inform only the U.S., while bypassing South Korea, reflects an attempt to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington.

He added that this is part of Kim Jong-un’s ongoing policy of antagonism towards the South, framed as “defensive measures.”

Earlier, North Korean state news agency said that the Supreme People’s Assembly met for two days this week to amend the legal ages of North Koreans for working and participating in elections.

However, it didn’t say whether the meeting dealt with leader Kim Jong Un’s order in January to rewrite the constitution to remove the goal of a peaceful Korean unification, formally designate South Korea as the country’s “invariable principal enemy” and define the North’s sovereign, territorial sphere.

Kim’s order stunned many North Korea watchers because it was seen as breaking away with his predecessors’ long-cherished dreams of achieving a unified Korea on the North’s terms.

Experts say Kim likely aims to diminish South Korea’s voice in the regional nuclear standoff and seek direct dealings with the U.S. They say Kim also likely hopes to diminish South Korean cultural influence and bolster his rule at home.

North Korea’s Announcement Labelled Desperate

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea’s announcement was “a desperate measure stemming from the insecurity of the failed Kim Jong Un regime” and would “only lead to [its] harsher isolation.”

Meanwhile, Hong Min, a Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said that North Korea’s latest move formalizes work already being done along its militarized border and suggests Pyongyang may aim to constitutionalize it in the future.

“If North Korea were to establish a new territorial clause through a constitutional amendment and sever its relationship with the South, the internal and external repercussions would be so great,” Hong told a news agency, suggesting Pyongyang is taking small steps in that direction.