People watch a news report on North Korea's explosion of inter-Korean roads at Seoul Station on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
North Korea's state media on Wednesday remained silent about its explosion of inter-Korean roads connected to South Korea the previous day.
North Korea blew up parts of the Gyeongui and Donghae roads north of the Military Demarcation Line on Tuesday, a move seen as highlighting its commitment to severing ties with South Korea. In August, North Korea cut off the Gyeongui and Donghae railways.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper targeting the domestic audience, did not carry any report about the destruction of the cross-border roads once seen as a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. As of 7:40 a.m., there also had been no such news reported by the Korean Central News Agency, the state-run news agency for readers outside North Korea.
The KCNA usually runs reports of the outcome of major events early the following morning.
North Korea's silence contrasts with how its state media reported the North's demolition in June 2020 of a joint liaison office in North Korea's border city of Kaesong. At that time, the KCNA swiftly reported the news on the day of the explosion occurring, while the Rodong Sinmun carried the report the following day.
The latest explosion came days after the country's military announced it will cut off all roads and railways linked to South Korea and build front-line defense structures to "completely separate" the North's territory from that of South Korea.
At a year-end party meeting in December last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean relations as those between "two states hostile to each other," and said there is no point in seeking reconciliation and unification with South Korea.
In January, he called for taking steps to "physically and completely" cut off the cross-border railway tracks to an "irretrievable level."
Meanwhile, North Korea's state media continued to carry reports about South Korea's alleged drone incursions in an apparent bid to arouse people's enmity against the North regime.
Around 1.4 million youths and students volunteered this week to join the Korean People's Army as the country is full of a will to "annihilate" South Korea over the violation of the North's "inviolable sovereignty and security," the Rodong Sinmun reported.
North Korea claimed Friday that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang three times this month, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. North Korea's military said Sunday it has ordered front-line artillery units to be fully ready to open fire. (Yonhap)
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