While the border is one of the most heavily militarised in the world, it failed to prevent a North Korean from crossing it to the South in August.
Seoul said in July that Pyongyang had spent months laying landmines and erecting barriers while turning the area into a wasteland along the heavily fortified border.
In June, the South Korean military said North Korean soldiers tasked with reinforcing the border had suffered “multiple casualties” from landmine explosion incidents.
That same month, Seoul’s spy agency said it had detected signs that North Korea was demolishing sections of a railway line connecting the two Koreas.
“North Korea has already been demolishing parts of the Donghae Line railway, seemingly with the intention of completely severing its connection to the South,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP, calling its latest statement “official confirmation”.
The North Korean army said Wednesday its decision was a “self-defensive measure” in response to South Korean “war exercises” and visits by US strategic nuclear assets.
While no constitutional revisions involving Seoul were reported at this week’s meeting, Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea could be waiting for the results of next month’s US election before making a move.
Pyongyang on Wednesday also named No Kwang Chol as its new defence minister, replacing Kang Sun Nam.
The announcement of No’s appointment comes a day after Seoul’s defence chief said North Korean soldiers were likely fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian troops, with some believed to have already been killed and more expected to be deployed.
