South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported on Sunday that North Korea has begun dismantling the power lines of transmission towers along the Gyeongui Line. South Korea originally built these towers to supply electricity to the Kaesong Industrial Complex area. These towers are steel structures spaced several hundred meters apart, line the Gyeongui Line road from just north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), where North Korea detonated explosives on the 15th of last month, to the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Military surveillance assets detected North Korean troops north of the MDL along the Gyeongui Line starting Sunday. The troops were observed removing power lines connecting the transmission towers. “We expect North Korea to begin fully dismantling the transmission towers once they finish removing the power lines,” a JCS spokesperson stated. “Our military is closely monitoring these activities.”
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) installed 48 towers along the Gyeongui Line in January 2007, providing power to the Kaesong Industrial Complex for over a decade. However, following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January 2016, the power supply was suspended the next month.
The power supply briefly resumed during improved inter-Korean relations, but it was short-lived. In June 2020, North Korea destroyed the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, completely halting the supply.
Since last year, North Korea has taken steps to physically sever ties with South Korea, abandoning the unique nature of inter-Korean relations in favor of a “two-state theory.” Ongoing activities near the Gyeongui and Donghae Line roads include land clearing, landmine placement, removal of railroad ties, rails, and streetlights, and dismantling of train storage facilities. In March, North Korea removed fencing along the Donghae Line road, dismantled streetlights along the Gyeongui Line road in April, and further turned off land connections between the two Koreas.
Most Commented