North Korea Blows up Parts of Inter-Korean Road on Its Side of Border, Seoul Says

North Korean border county of Kaepoong is seen from South Korea's Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
North Korean border county of Kaepoong is seen from South Korea's Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
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North Korea Blows up Parts of Inter-Korean Road on Its Side of Border, Seoul Says

North Korean border county of Kaepoong is seen from South Korea's Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
North Korean border county of Kaepoong is seen from South Korea's Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on October 15, 2024. (AFP)

North Korea has blown up sections of an inter-Korean road on its side of the heavily militarized border between the two Koreas, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday.

At around midday, some parts of the road north of the military demarcation line dividing the countries were blown up, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message sent to media.

South Korea's military had ramped up surveillance and its readiness in response, it said. Seoul had warned on Monday that Pyongyang was getting ready to blow up the roads.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been increasing amid an escalating war of words after the North accused its rival of sending drones over the country's capital Pyongyang.

North Korea on Friday said the drones had scattered a "huge number" of anti-North leaflets over the city, in what it called political and military provocation that could lead to armed conflict.

A spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff declined on Monday to answer questions over whether the South Korean military or civilians had flown the alleged drones.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had overseen on Monday a meeting with defense and security officials to discuss how to respond to the "enemy's serious provocation that violated the sovereignty of the DPRK", state media KCNA reported. DPRK is short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.



Greek, Turkish Foreign Ministers to Meet on Nov. 8, Sources Say

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan look on, during the inauguration of the Great Mosque of Tirana or Namazgah Mosque, the largest mosque in the Balkans, in Tirana, Albania October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan look on, during the inauguration of the Great Mosque of Tirana or Namazgah Mosque, the largest mosque in the Balkans, in Tirana, Albania October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
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Greek, Turkish Foreign Ministers to Meet on Nov. 8, Sources Say

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan look on, during the inauguration of the Great Mosque of Tirana or Namazgah Mosque, the largest mosque in the Balkans, in Tirana, Albania October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan look on, during the inauguration of the Great Mosque of Tirana or Namazgah Mosque, the largest mosque in the Balkans, in Tirana, Albania October 10, 2024. (Reuters)

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will meet his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Athens on Nov. 8 to discuss bilateral issues including the demarcation of an exclusive economic zone, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

Greece and Türkiye, NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over matters ranging from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean, energy resources and ethnically split Cyprus.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week he believed relations with Greece were improving and that the Gerapetritis-Fidan meeting was aimed at finding solutions to issues such as maritime zones and airspace.

The foreign ministers have been tasked with exploring whether conditions were favorable to initiate talks on the demarcation of the continental shelf and economic zone, Gerapetritis said last month.

An agreement on where their maritime zones begin and end is important for determining rights over possible gas reserves and power infrastructure schemes.

A high-level cooperation council, at which the countries will assess progress, is expected to take place in Ankara in January.

Separately, the leaders of estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriots were expected to meet informally with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Tuesday.

Cyprus was split decades ago in a Turkish invasion after a brief Greek-inspired coup, and preceded by years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Reunification talks collapsed in mid-2017 and have been at a stalemate since.