North Korea has accused South Korea of behaving like a 'mongrel dog' with a US 'flunkey' president, just a day after the North blew up a liaison office at the border that signified inter-Korean relations.
Today the South Korean unification minister, Kim Yeon-chul, has resigned, blaming himself for the deteriorating relationship.
WATCH: South Korea’s military footage of when this liaison office explosion took place @BloombergTV pic.twitter.com/YkXUkd5vtX
— Jihye Lee 이지혜 (@TheJihyeLee) June 16, 2020
The derogatory comments were made in a state media article from North Korea's capital Pyongyang, which explained its reasoning for destroying the office in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
It cited the South's 'systematic breaching' of 2018 agreements and 'mongrel dog' behaviour as grounds for the explosion of the North-South Liaison office, reports The BBC.
It stated that the South's military had been 'bragging and bluffing, rattling the dialogue partner and stoking confrontational atmosphere'.
Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo Jun, then accused the South's president of being a US 'flunkey' - a person who performs menial tasks for someone else.
On Tuesday an explosion was heard and smoke was seen rising from the liaison offices - it was the first such inter-Korean office which the two Koreas opened in 2018 when their ties flourished.
Although the building was empty and the North had previously signalled its plans to destroy it, the move is still the most provocative act by North Korea since it entered nuclear talks in 2018 after a US-North Korean standoff had many fearing war.
The explosion came three days after Kim Yo Jung, the sister of the North Korean leader, repeated an earlier threat by saying Seoul will soon witness the collapse of the 'useless' inter-Korean liaison office.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the country destroyed the office in a 'terrific explosion'.
South Korea issued a statement expressing 'strong regret' over the destruction of the building and calling the North's actions 'senseless'.
The South's defence ministry said: 'It is our basic stance that the 19 September military agreement should be complied with without fail to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and to prevent accidental clashes.'
It warned of a stern response if North Korea takes additional steps that aggravate tensions.
Today North Korea stated that it will redeploy troops to the inter-Korea tourist and economic sites near its border with South Korea.
The North's General Staff said its military units will be deployed at the sites of the Diamond tourism project and the Kaesong industrial complex, both located just north of the heavily fortified border.
Once symbols of inter-Korean cooperation, the sites have been shuttered amid animosities over North Korea's nuclear programme for years.
Pyongyang said it would also resume military exercises and re-establish guard posts in front-line areas and fly propaganda balloons toward South Korea.
These steps means that North Korea will nullify a 2018 deal with South Korea aimed at lowering military tensions at border areas.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued a separate statement saying North Korea had rebuffed a recent offer by South Korean president Moon Jae-in to send special envoys to Pyongyang to defuse animosities.
She said Mr Moon had offered to dispatch his National Security Director Chung Eui-yong and director of National Intelligence Service Suh Hun at the earliest possible date that North Korea would want.
Kim Yo Jong, who has spearheaded the North's recent fiery rhetoric against South Korea, called Mr Moon's offer 'unrealistic' and 'nonsensical' and said South Korea must pay the price for its failure to stop activists from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets toward North Korea.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
