North Korea dismantling facility near border for separated families, Seoul says

Seoul: North Korea is dismantling a facility at its Mount Kumgang resort used for hosting meetings between families separated after the Korean War, South Korea said on Thursday, in the latest sign of strained tensions between the two Koreas.

Seoul's Unification Ministry, which handles affairs between the two Koreas, urged in a statement North Korea to immediately stop the action at the site near the border.

The demolition of the facility is an "anti-humanitarian act that tramples on the wishes of separated families," the ministry said, adding that it would consider legal measures over the action and a joint response with the international community.

North Korea has been escalating its rhetoric against its southern neighbour in recent years, designating South Korea as a "hostile state".

Pyongyang also blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border last year, which prompted South Korea's military to fire warning shots at the time.

In 2023, Pyongyang scrapped a 2018 military accord designed to curb the risk of inadvertent clashes between two countries that remain technically at war, prompting the South to take a similar step.

Nonetheless, there have been recent signs that North Korea may be prepared to reopen to some foreign visitors for the first time in more than five years since the closure of its borders to tourism due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Beijing-based Koryo Tours on Thursday said tours to North Korea were "officially back", with some of its staff allowed to enter the Rason area in what it hoped would mark the relaunch of tourism.