North Korea Cuts The Power Network Installed By South Korea In The Kaesong Joint Industrial Estate

Kaesong City. (Wikimedia Commons/stephan)

JAKARTA - North Korea cut off the power grid installed by South Korea to supply electricity to a joint industrial area that is now closed in North Korea's border town, Kaesong, South Korea's military said, Pyongyang's latest move to cut inter-Korean relations.

The military has detected North Korean soldiers moving parts of the power grid connecting transmission towers built along Gyeongui's roads since Sunday, officials said, in what appears to be preparation for the destruction of a transmission tower built by South Korea.

"North Korea has not yet worked on a transmission tower. (North Korean troops) have piled up a high voltage network that broke and fell to the ground," said a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colonel Lee Sung-jun at a regular press conference.

Colonel Lee said North Korean troops had cut off the power grid connected to the first transmission tower located north of the military's demarcation line, adding further monitoring was needed.

Previously, South Korea built 48 transmission towers including 15 located in the North to supply electricity to the now-closed Kaesong Industrial Complex.

However, power supply has stalled since June 2020, when North Korea blew up inter-Korean liaison offices at the compound, after criticizing Seoul for failing to stop North Korean defectors in South Korea from sending anti-Pyong leaflets across the border.

When asked if North Korea, which lacks resources, cut power lines to recycle it, Colonel Lee did not rule out the possibility, noting the power lines contain large amounts of copper.

The latest move comes as North Korea has stepped up inter-Korean tensions and removed traces of unification after Pyongyang Leader Kim Jong-un defined North and South as "two hostile countries" late last year.

North Korea has since removed street lights and set mines along the sides of Gyeongui and Donghae's roads, deploying troops to build anti-tank barriers and strengthening barbed wire on the side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

Last month, North Korea blew up a road network and railroad linking the two countries after the military announced plans to "fully separate" North Korea's territory from South Korea.