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| North Korea 'blows up joint liaison office' with South | North Korea 'blows up joint liaison office' with South |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say. | North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say. |
| The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action against the South. | The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action against the South. |
| The site, which is in the North's territory, was opened in 2018 to help the two Koreas to communicate. | The site, which is in the North's territory, was opened in 2018 to help the two Koreas to communicate. |
| The liaison office has been empty since January due to Covid-19 restrictions. | The liaison office has been empty since January due to Covid-19 restrictions. |
| Tensions between North and South Korea have been escalating for weeks, prompted by defector groups in the south sending propaganda into the north. | Tensions between North and South Korea have been escalating for weeks, prompted by defector groups in the south sending propaganda into the north. |
| The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, threatened to demolish the office in a "tragic scene" in a statement at the weekend. | The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, threatened to demolish the office in a "tragic scene" in a statement at the weekend. |
| South Korea's Unification Ministry in Seoul confirmed that at 2:49pm local time there was an explosion. | |
| In recent weeks, North Korea has repeatedly condemned the South for allowing propaganda across the border. | In recent weeks, North Korea has repeatedly condemned the South for allowing propaganda across the border. |
| Defector groups regularly send such material via balloons, or even drones, into the North. | |
| Last Tuesday, Pyongyang announced it was severing all official communication links with Seoul. | |
| Over the weekend, Kim Yo-jong threatened to send troops into the demilitarised zone (DMZ) at the inter-Korean border. | |
| Then, before the explosion on Tuesday, the military leadership confirmed it had a plan to send troops into the DMZ and said it was ready to "turn the frontline into a fortress". | |
| The two states set up the office in Kaesong after talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his counterpart from the South, President Moon-Jae-in. | The two states set up the office in Kaesong after talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his counterpart from the South, President Moon-Jae-in. |
| "North Korea's violent destruction of the liaison office at Kaesong is a symbolic blow to inter-Korean reconciliation and co-operation," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. | "North Korea's violent destruction of the liaison office at Kaesong is a symbolic blow to inter-Korean reconciliation and co-operation," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. |
| "It's hard to see how such behaviour will help the Kim regime get what it wants from the world, but clearly such images will be used for domestic propaganda." | "It's hard to see how such behaviour will help the Kim regime get what it wants from the world, but clearly such images will be used for domestic propaganda." |
| Analysts say Pyongyang may also be seeking to create a crisis to increase its leverage as nuclear negotiations with the US are at a standstill. | |
| North and South Korea are technically still at war because no peace agreement was reached when the Korean War ended in 1953. | North and South Korea are technically still at war because no peace agreement was reached when the Korean War ended in 1953. |
| Who is Kim Yo-jong? | |
| In recent years the younger sister of Kim Jong-un has emerged as his close and powerful ally. | |
| From 2014, Kim Yo-jong's main job was to protect her brother's image, taking up a key role in the party's propaganda department. | |
| When, in 2017, she was elevated to an alternate member of the politburo, it seemed to indicate a shift in seniority - although her main role remained in propaganda. | |
| In 2018, she shot into the international spotlight when, at the Winter Olympics, she became the first member of the Kim family to visit South Korea. | |
| Her continued rise shows she has gained the deep trust of her brother, and when Mr Kim's disappearance in April prompted questions about his health - she was touted as the person to succeed him. | |
| In recent weeks, she has been responsible for delivering several strongly-worded messages against the South - and has emerged as North Korea's new point-person on inter-Korean affairs, according to specialist site NK News. | |
| However, North Korea's power mechanisms are notoriously difficult to understand. | |
| It's therefore hard to gauge how much power -or how much of her own political network - the 32-year-old might have. |