Why North Korea is cutting off all roads to the South

If you visit South Korea, you may be startled at the presence of road signs pointing towards Kaesong and Pyongyang: two destinations that many of Seoul’s visitors will rarely have frequented. The latter – informally known as ‘Pyonghattan’ for its high-rise buildings – needs no explanation. The former was once the capital of dynastic Korea from the 10th to 14th centuries. One millennium later, it would become a special industrial region of North Korea, and home to the infamous Kaesong Industrial Complex, a now-closed joint economic development with South Korea. Yet soon, the roads and railways linking the democratic South to the authoritarian North will be no more.

On Tuesday, the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, North Korea’s state army, announced that it would ‘permanently shut off and block the southern border’ with South Korea, as a ‘defensive measure’ to defend North Korea’s security.