"Destroyed Detente Symbols"...Foreign media scramble to blast inter-Korean road

While the Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea blew up some sections of the inter-Korean connection between the Gyeongui and Donghae lines, foreign media also reported the news as emergency news.

The Associated Press said the North's road explosion came amid growing hostility between the two Koreas over claims that South Korea launched drones in the North's capital Pyongyang.

"This road destruction shows that Kim Jong-un is growing aversion to the conservative regime in South Korea as he has vowed to cut ties with South Korea and give up his goal of peaceful reunification," he said.

"In the 2000s, the two Koreas reconnected two roads and two railroads across the armed border," the AP said. "However, since then, the operation of these roads and tunnels has been suspended one after another as the two Koreas have been in conflict over the North Korean nuclear issue."

Reuters also cited the Joint Chiefs of Staff to urgently report North Korea's bombing, noting the symbolism of these roads.

"These paths, which were connected across the border, are traces left by the period of reconciliation between the two Koreas, including the 2018 inter-Korean summit, which declared that there would be no more war and that a new era of peace had opened," Reuters said.

AFP introduced an expert's analysis that "Kim Jong-un sent a clear message that he was not ready to negotiate with South Korea" regarding North Korea's blasting of the road, saying, "Inter-Korean relations have become the worst in years."