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\nNorth Korea\u2019s army said Wednesday it was moving to \u201cpermanently shut off and block the southern border\u201d with Seoul and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.
In a statement, Pyongyang said it would \u201ccut off roads and railways\u201d that might have someday facilitated travel between the two Koreas.
While North Korea on Wednesday described the move as a \u201cmajor military step\u201d, an analyst suggested it was likely the continuation of a process long under way.
Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang shuttering agencies dedicated to reunification and declaring South Korea its \u201cprincipal enemy\u201d.
The nuclear-armed country had been expected to scrap a landmark inter-Korean agreement signed in 1991 at a key parliamentary meeting that ended Tuesday, part of leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s drive to officially define the South as an enemy state.
But in a Wednesday report that revealed the naming of a new defense chief, official state media made no mention of the pact being ended.
Hours later, however, the army said it planned \u201ca substantial military step\u201d that would \u201ccompletely cut off roads and railways connected to the ROK (South Korea) and fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures.\u201d
It added it had sent a telephone message to US forces Wednesday morning to \u201cprevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict over the fortification project to be launched in the acute southern border area\u201d.
While the border is one of the most heavily militarized in the world, it failed to prevent a North Korean from crossing it to the South in August.
Seoul said in July that Pyongyang had spent months laying landmines and erecting barriers while turning the area into a wasteland along the heavily fortified border.
In June, the South Korean military said North Korean soldiers tasked with reinforcing the border had suffered \u201cmultiple casualties\u201d from landmine explosion incidents.
That same month, Seoul\u2019s spy agency said it had detected signs that North Korea was demolishing sections of a railway line connecting the two Koreas.
\u201cNorth Korea has already been demolishing parts of the Donghae Line railway, seemingly with the intention of completely severing its connection to the South,\u201d Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP, calling its latest statement \u201cofficial confirmation\u201d.
The North Korean army said Wednesday its decision was a \u201cself-defensive measure\u201d in response to South Korean \u201cwar exercises\u201d and visits by US strategic nuclear assets.
While no constitutional revisions involving Seoul were reported at this week\u2019s meeting, Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea could be waiting for the results of next month\u2019s US election before making a move.
Pyongyang on Wednesday also named No Kwang Chol as its new defence minister, replacing Kang Sun Nam.
The announcement of No\u2019s appointment comes a day after Seoul\u2019s defense chief said North Korean soldiers were likely fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian troops, with some believed to have already been killed and more expected to be deployed.<\/p>\n