North Korea blows military posts at the border to show that peace was serious

North Korea has destroyed a number of its own military installations near its heavily fortified border with South Korea as part of an agreed framework aimed at easing tensions between its long-time enemies.

Around 3:00 pm local time – a time zone recently aligned with South Korea as part of their ongoing peace efforts – North Korea destroyed 10 guard posts near the demilitarized zone that divides countries, said the South Korean Ministry of Defense at the official Yonhap news agency. Pyongyang reportedly warned Seoul before the detonation, which followed the dismantling by South Korea of ​​its guard posts earlier this week.

The armies of North Korea and South Korea, rivals since their split after World War II and fighting shortly after, agreed in September to begin disarming their respective parts of the demilitarized zone and the zone. common security that crosses it.

A North Korean guard post before the explosion is seen from South Korea in the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas on November 20th. The border is often described as the most heavily reinforced border in the world. South Korean Ministry of Defense / Getty Images

An explosion occurred as part of the dismantling of a North Korean guard post observed from South Korea in the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas on 20 November. The two Koreas began destroying their guard posts along their heavily fortified border as part of a plan to reduce tensions on the territory. the border. South Korean Ministry of Defense / Getty Images

The agreement comes weeks after the fifth inter-Korean summit, in which North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the third time. This year has been marked by unprecedented contacts between neighbors, but the United States has expressed reservations about measures to reduce military readiness at the border.

While Moon has prioritized the normalization of political and economic relations with North Korea, President Donald Trump said the United States would not lift sanctions or declare peace to their decades-old conflict that Kim would not have completely denuclearized his country. Pyongyang has long argued that its nuclear weapons were essential to its longevity in the face of alleged US hostilities, but Kim promised to end his weapons of mass destruction at the first-ever meeting between a North Korean leader and his US president. exercise, in June.

The Trump administration continued to publicly support Kim's promise to denuclearize and added that a second meeting between Kim and Trump was in preparation. Nevertheless, contacts between the United States and North Korea slowed down and many expressed skepticism about North Korea's intentions.

Last week, The New York Times and a number of other outlets cited a satellite image analysis report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, claiming that it was proven that North Korea continued to working on secret missile sites despite public assurances to the US Trump and a spokesperson for Moon, said the report shows "nothing new" and criticizes the Time for misinterpreting the conclusions of the original report.

South Korean soldiers stand guard as construction equipment destroys a guard post in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas from Cheorwon on November 15. Korea's enthusiastic diplomacy with North Korea has raised some concerns in the United States. Jung Yeon-I / Pool / Getty Images

An explosion is considered part of the dismantling of a South Korean guard post in the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas in Cheorwon on November 15. President Donald Trump, along with the governments of North and South Korea, warned against misleading media reports. surrounding the peace talks. JUNG YEON-JE / AFP / Getty Images

Although the temperature defended his article, experts writing for the main North Korean 38 North monitoring site – to which the authors of the original report regularly contribute-The nation and The national interest continued to criticize the newspaper. They also pointed out that Kim had reached no agreement obliging him to reduce his ballistic missile program, although the country has not carried out missile testing for about a year, while the tension in the Korean peninsula was exacerbated.

Despite suspicion surrounding the withdrawal of border defenses, United States-led United Nations command contributed to inter-Korean efforts to clear the Common Security Zone, as well as the withdrawal of guard posts and armed personnel . As part of their September agreement, the two Koreas would each leave a front-line guard position for historical value.