北朝鮮、韓国とつながる道路・鉄道を「恒久的に遮断」

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】北朝鮮軍は９日、韓国との「南側の国境を恒久的に遮断」する「軍事措置」を講じるとし、偶発的衝突を避けるために米軍にも通知したと発表した。（写真は非武装地帯〈ＤＭＺ〉の北朝鮮側を眺める観光客）
　北朝鮮は、いずれは南北間の往来促進も見込まれていた「道路・鉄道を遮断する」と発表。韓国の「軍事演習」と、米国の「戦略核資産」が同地域に持ち込まれている事態に対する「自衛措置」だとしている。
　韓国側は７月、北朝鮮が数か月前から南北軍事境界線沿いに地雷を敷設し、障害物を設置して厳重な要塞（ようさい）を築いた「不毛の土地」を設けようとしていると発表。
　それに先立つ６月、韓国軍は、境界線周辺の警備強化を命じられた北朝鮮兵士が地雷の爆発によって「複数負傷している」とし、情報機関は、北朝鮮が南北を結ぶ鉄道の一部を撤去しているもようだと報告していた。
　韓国・北韓大学院大学の梁茂進総長はＡＦＰに対し、「北朝鮮はすでに東海線の鉄道の一部を撤去しており、韓国との連結を完全に断つつもりのようだ」とし、今回の発表は北朝鮮による「公式確認」との見方を示した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/09-21:53）

North Korea's army said on Wednesday it was moving to permanently shut off and block the southern border with the South and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.
Pyongyang said in a statement it would cut off roads and railways that might have made travel between the two Koreas possible.
However, it was largely a symbolic gesture because cross-border exchanges and travel between North and South Korea have been halted for years.
Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang closing agencies dedicated to reunification and declaring South Korea its principal enemy.
Some analysts thought the announcement could be a potential first step towards more serious action, such as amending the North's constitution to declare a new maritime border south of the current de facto line.
The nuclear-armed North had been expected to scrap a landmark inter-Korean agreement signed in 1991 at a key parliamentary meeting that ended on Tuesday, part of leader Kim Jong Un's drive to officially define the South as an enemy state.
However, state media made no mention of such action in a report on Wednesday announcing a new defence chief.
The army said hours later it planned a substantial military step that would completely cut off roads and railways connected to the ROK (South Korea) and fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defence structures.
It said it had sent a telephone message to US forces to prevent any misjudgement and accidental conflict.
The border between the two Koreas is one of the most heavily militarised in the world, although it failed to prevent a North Korean from crossing to the South in August.
Seoul said in July that Pyongyang had spent months laying landmines and erecting barriers, turning the area into a wasteland.
The South Korean military said a month earlier North Korean soldiers had suffered multiple casualties from landmine explosions in the area.
Seoul's spy agency also said in June it had detected signs that North Korea was demolishing sections of a railway line connecting the two Koreas.
That demolition was seemingly with the intention of completely severing its connection to the South, Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
Yang described Wednesday's statement from the North as official confirmation.
- Harsher isolation -
The North Korean military described its decision as a self-defensive measure in response to South Korean war exercises and visits by US strategic nuclear assets.
Its counterpart in the South slammed the announcement as a desperate measure stemming from the insecurities of the failed Kim Jong Un regime.
The South Korean military said the North's action would lead to even harsher isolation and warned it would never stand idly by if Pyongyang sought to change the status quo.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea could be waiting for the results of next month's US election before announcing any change to its constitution.
Pyongyang also named No Kwang Chol as its new defence minister on Wednesday, replacing Kang Sun Nam.
That announcement came a day after Seoul's defence chief said North Korean soldiers were likely fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian troops, with some believed to have been killed and more expected to be deployed.