NKorea Building Roads, Walls Inside Demilitarized Zone

This handout image from Planet Labs PBC taken on June 11, 2024 and received on June 12, 2024 shows a view of the Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout image from Planet Labs PBC taken on June 11, 2024 and received on June 12, 2024 shows a view of the Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
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NKorea Building Roads, Walls Inside Demilitarized Zone

This handout image from Planet Labs PBC taken on June 11, 2024 and received on June 12, 2024 shows a view of the Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout image from Planet Labs PBC taken on June 11, 2024 and received on June 12, 2024 shows a view of the Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs PBC / AFP)

North Korea's military has been building roads and walls inside the Demilitarized Zone that separates it from the South, the Yonhap news agency reported Saturday.

The construction activities are taking place north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) that runs through the middle of the DMZ, the South Korean agency said, citing an unnamed military source.

The report follows an incident last week when South Korean forces fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the MDL.

South Korean authorities said it was likely accidental, and Yonhap quoted a military spokesman as saying some of the North Koreans were carrying work tools.

"Recently, the North Korean military has been erecting walls, digging the ground and constructing roads in some areas between the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and the Northern Limit Line in the DMZ," the military source said, according to Yonhap on Saturday.

It was not clear what they were building, the source told Yonhap.

When asked about the report, the South Korean military said in a statement that it was "closely tracking and monitoring the activities of the North Korean military", and that "further analysis is required".

It said it could not share the South Korean response to these actions "to ensure the safety of the personnel proceeding with an operation", without offering further details.

South Korea's spy agency told AFP this week that it had detected signs that North Korea was demolishing sections of a railway line connecting the two countries.

That followed an escalation in the propaganda war between the two Koreas.

North Korea sent more than a thousand balloons carrying trash into the South, describing them as retaliation for the propaganda balloons sent the other way by anti-Pyongyang activists.

Then, South Korea resumed blasting K-pop songs and news broadcasts at the North, using loudspeakers installed at the border.

The resumption of the loudspeaker campaign prompted Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, to threaten an unspecified "new countermeasure".



Kyiv Says Russian Attacks on Medical Center in Ukraine's Sumy Kill 8

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian National Police on September 19, 2024 shows police officers carrying a victim of an airstrike on a geriatric center in the city of Sumy, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN NATIONAL POLICE / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian National Police on September 19, 2024 shows police officers carrying a victim of an airstrike on a geriatric center in the city of Sumy, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN NATIONAL POLICE / AFP)
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Kyiv Says Russian Attacks on Medical Center in Ukraine's Sumy Kill 8

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian National Police on September 19, 2024 shows police officers carrying a victim of an airstrike on a geriatric center in the city of Sumy, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN NATIONAL POLICE / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian National Police on September 19, 2024 shows police officers carrying a victim of an airstrike on a geriatric center in the city of Sumy, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN NATIONAL POLICE / AFP)

Russian forces hit a medical center in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday morning then struck again as the building was being evacuated, killing a total of eight people, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian prosecutors said that at the time of the attacks, 86 patients and 38 staff members were in the hospital.
"The first attack killed one person and damaged the ceilings of several floors of the hospital," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
As people were being evacuated, the Russians struck again, killing a further five people, he said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later said eight people were killed and 11 injured, Reuters reported.
"Everyone in the world who talks about this war should pay attention to where Russia is hitting. They are fighting hospitals, civilian objects, and people's lives," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
"Only force can force Russia to peace. Peace through force is the only right way."
Klymenko did not specify what weapons were used in Saturday's attacks but the regional administration and air forces said the strike was carried out by drones.
Attacks on Sumy city and the Sumy region have become much more frequent since Ukrainian forces launched an operation in Russia's Kursk region in August and captured dozens of settlements.
Sumy city is located just 32 km (20 miles) from the Russian border and Russian forces have been attacking the region and the city with drones and guided bombs.
Ukrainian air forces earlier on Saturday said they had shot down 69 of 73 drones during an overnight Russian attack that included two ballistic and two cruise missiles.
About 15 Russian attack drones were destroyed by air defenses in the capital Kyiv and on its outskirts, the military administration there said.