BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU on Tuesday warned North Korea against taking further “provocative and damaging steps” after Pyongyang blew up a liaison office near its border with South Korea.
The demolition came after days of increasingly virulent rhetoric from the North condemning the South over activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border.
“The European Union strongly regrets the recent actions by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” an EU spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson said the North’s recent actions “raise tensions, destabilize the situation and undermine efforts towards a diplomatic solution on the Korean Peninsula”.
“The DPRK’s demolition of the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong today, combined with its increased military rhetoric, and its severance of official communication links with Seoul are unacceptable, and any additional provocative and damaging steps must be avoided,” the spokesperson added.
DPRK is an abbreviation for the North’s official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Analysts say Pyongyang’s actions may be aimed at manufacturing a crisis to increase pressure on Seoul while nuclear negotiations with Washington are at a standstill.
Inter-Korean relations soured following the collapse of the Hanoi summit between Pyongyang leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in February last year.
© Agence France-Presse